A convicted fraudster who scammed dozens of UAE investors has been ordered by a New York judge to spend more time behind bars and to repay his victims more than $58 million.
Renwick Haddow, 57, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges related to two businesses he operated: Bar Works, which sold remote-working office space, and a cryptocurrency trading platform called Bitcoin Store.
Bar Works office spaces in New York, San Francisco and Istanbul were sold multiple times for between $10,000 and $30,000 each, with the promise of 125 per cent returns.
Victims were identified across 60 nations, including the UAE, after the schemes collapsed and Haddow was arrested in 2017 in Morocco.
Haddow, from London, was facing up to 22 years in prison, according to US government guidelines, but was sentenced to just 54 months.
He will probably now serve only 18 months because of previous time served and his co-operation with law enforcement to bring four co-conspirators to justice.
Missing millions
At a sentencing hearing on July 23, US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed Haddow to pay more than $58 million in restitution to hundreds of victims.
To date, less than $2 million has been recovered, with more than 800 victims identified.
Judge Swain said Haddow was the mastermind behind “appalling” frauds who, despite his co-operation, was not fully forthcoming about his assets.
A custodial sentence was handed down as Haddow was considered to have the potential to reoffend without supervision. He has been under house arrest but was ordered to surrender himself into custody on September 24.
“You preyed on investors' simple hopes,” Judge Swain told Haddow during sentencing in New York. “You stole their life savings. You have caused immense harm. You profited from their suffering. You lived in luxury.”
“It was good to hear you accept responsibility. Your sentence is far lighter than it would have been without a co-operation agreement.”
Court co-operation
A lengthy pre-sentencing document had been submitted to the court, calling for character witnesses and highlighting Haddow’s rehabilitation and co-operation since his arrest as factors in his legal team’s plea for a non-custodial sentence.
Four of Haddow's accomplices in Bar Works, described by prosecutors as a Ponzi scheme on steroids, were convicted as a result of that co-operation, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
They were Britons James Moore, Savraj Gata-Aura, James Robinson and David Kennedy, who all received prison sentences.
Haddow testified against Moore, who died in jail in 2022, three years into his 11-year sentence.
After Haddow's arrest in Tangiers, US authorities issued extradition orders and federal agents brought him to New York to face wire fraud charges in April 2018.
Haddow was released from the Metropolitan Correctional Centre and placed under house arrest in April 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic. He has been free to rebuild his life.
According to local reports, Haddow appeared at sentencing dressed in khakis and a blue blazer and took full responsibility for his crimes, apologising to victims for his “selfish, greedy behaviour”.
“I am not looking to minimise this one bit,” he said. “I take full responsibility for what happened. Words alone cannot undo the damage that I've caused.”
