Accused holiday swindler claims he ‘checked with the experts’

A company boss accused of cheating thousands of property investors out of millions of pounds insisted he never did anything without first checking with his experts, a court heard. David Ames, 70, is accused of three counts of fraud by abuse of position while head of Harlequin Management Services South East Limited (HMSSE). Ames allegedly encouraged investors to purchase overseas properties in the Caribbean before they were built and then failed to give them anything in return. The prosecutors claim…