Every week, Tony Hetherington replies to readers' letters, adding comments, advice and the results of his enquiries.

If you think you are a victim of financial mismanagement, or want advice before investing, write to Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS.
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D. R. G. writes: Can you tell me anything about Arboretum Sports (UK) Limited of Basingstoke, Hampshire? This company used money from about 500 subscribers to gamble on spread betting, but it has gone into liquidation.


I won't beat about the bush. This was fraud. The man behind it was David Dixon, a convicted fraudster, and he has disappeared. More than £11m, invested by more than 650 subscribers, has also disappeared.

Dixon set up Arboretum Sports in 2005. He claimed to be a gambling expert who could take the risk out of betting by spotting small differences in the odds offered by bookmakers.

In sports such as tennis or boxing, with a winner and a loser, if two bookmaking firms offer slightly different odds it is possible to make a profit no matter who wins.

At first, investors were paid big profits. Not surprisingly, this encouraged them to reinvest their money and to tell all their friends. Some put in £100,000 or more, with customers arriving at Dixon's offices at a local business park carrying bags stuffed with cash.

Then, in the summer of 2006, Arboretum stopped paying out.

Dixon is said to have offered excuses about long-term bets and even claimed the company's funds had been seized by the taxman. But he kept the loyalty of many investors by telling them their money was growing, peaking on paper at a fantastic £100m.

Throughout all this he managed to avoid some flak from worried subscribers by quitting as a director of Arboretum and appointing two investors to front for him.

One, Basingstoke electrician Paul Williams, told me Dixon still pulled the strings. 'Even though he may have resigned as director, he was solely in charge,' he said. 'We were puppets more than anything. He gave us roles and titles, but this was pretty meaningless because what he said, went.'

And when questions began to be asked, Dixon was unsympathetic. Williams said: 'He tried to say that everyone has their own choice in what they do and it was not his fault if people had invested too much money. But he was just trying to offload the blame.'

Williams put Arboretum Sports into liquidation and he last spoke to Dixon just before Christmas 2007. Since then, Dixon has spoken to a few people, apparently in phone calls from abroad. Some say he asked them not to co-operate with investigators or they would kill any chance of getting their money back.



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