‘I was only trying to do my friends a favour – and I lost them 15 million quid’

A retired Premier League star accused of duping investors out of £15m told a court he traded as a ‘favour’ to his friends and family. Former Charlton Athletic defender Richard Rufus, 47, drove a Bentley and lived on an exclusive private estate on the money he was swindling, jurors have heard. Rufus, who was capped six times by the England under-21s, denies fraud and claims he was trying to make money for his friends and associates by investing their cash….