FRAUDSTER – and former Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestant – Jeff Arundell has been ordered to pay back more than £4 million after being jailed for a series of financial crimes.

The 75-year-old, of Bath, was convicted of offences including fraud and money laundering in relation to financial dealings he carried out in 2016 and 2017 at a hearing in October 2023.

Now, as he continues a six-and-a-half-year sentence, Arundell was back at Bristol Crown Court in October 2025 for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.

And on December 19, His Honour Judge Blair found the total amount Arundell had illegally benefitted from was £4.8million. He issued a confiscation order for the available amount of £4,140,428.59, of which more than £220,000 will be returned to Arundell’s victims.

If Arundell cannot or refuses to pay the funds, he will receive a further eight years behind bars.

The fraudster, of Sion Hill, Lansdown, invited a friend in November 2016 to join him in investing in what he claimed to be a guaranteed money-making investment, claiming he had information that shares in a pharmaceutical company were set to significantly increase in value in the coming weeks.

He promised the friend – and his friend’s family members who also invested – that he would personally guarantee their stake money if he was wrong.

In total, he received about £108,000 to invest on their behalf.

In early December 2016, Arundell placed the money on numerous trades of spread betting, but told the victims within weeks that he had lost their money and did not have the funds to repay them as per the guarantee he made.

It was later discovered by the police Arundell had indeed profited on some of the trades he had placed in December 2016 using their money, which he had not told them about.

From the winnings, he continued to trade and place further bets, which in turn attributed to the £4.6m windfall he had accumulated by August 2017.

The friend and his family reported the matter in January 2017 and a police investigation was carried out.

Arundell claimed when he placed the trades in December 2016, he could indeed have repaid the guarantee, as he had received approximately £100,000 in inheritance from his late-mother’s estate earlier that year.

However, this was investigated as a separate fraud, as it was discovered he had taken his mother’s money, while holding a power of attorney for her some years before.

By taking the money while she was alive, he had deprived other family members from inheriting from her estate upon her death.

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Arundell was convicted of three counts of fraud by false representation and one of money laundering at Bristol Crown Court in 2023, in relation to £86,000 worth of money he received from his friend and their family.

He was found not guilty of a fourth count of fraud by false representation relating to the rest of the money he received.

He was also separately charged with fraud by abuse of position in respect of the handling of his late-mother’s finances in early-2020. He was convicted of this offence in April 2021.

DCI Carlos Filippsen said: “This is a significant result against an offender who was convicted of fraud and money laundering offences in November 2023.

“The convictions and subsequent confiscation orders in this case show how we will pursue offenders who directly target victims, including stripping them of any assets they have gained through crime.

“Ensuring that we have been able to return those funds to the victims and for the perpetrator to not be able to benefit from his criminal activity demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that crime does not and will not pay.

“I hope this will deter other criminals who may be involved in these despicable offences, by showing that they will be convicted and have their ill-gotten gains removed.”

The convictions came after a 2000 appearance on ITV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, where Arundell proved as inept as he did with his crimes – walking away with a meagre £1,000 in prize money.

He answered a £4,000 question incorrectly, leaving him with the £1,000 prize and leaving the show.