Ex-Premier League Defender Lucien Aubey Jailed for Fraud

 

Former Portsmouth defender Lucien Aubey has been sentenced to two years in prison with 12 months suspended after being found guilty of fraud by a court in Toulouse, France.

The 40-year-old Congolese international who had a brief loan spell with Portsmouth in 2008 was convicted of scamming a friend out of over £120,000 in a fraudulent business scheme.

The trial revealed that in 2015, Aubey and his co-accused Mohamed Dia convinced their friend identified only as Sebastien to invest in a record label business. They falsely promised him a £1 million return within three years.

Sebastien a shoe repairer had received a £170,000 payout from a road accident settlement and trusted Aubey with his investment. However, the money was never returned, leading Sebastien to report the fraud to the police.

Adding to the controversy, prosecutors presented wiretapped phone conversations between Aubey and Dia, which proved their intent to deceive Sebastien. It was also revealed that Aubey had previously been declared bankrupt and was legally barred from setting up a business.

Sebastien testified in court, stating that he lost everything due to the scam. His financial ruin led to his marriage breaking down, and he claimed that his wife even considered suicide due to the distress.

I lost everything and my wife wanted to commit suicide. I had to give up work. We split up and those two just had a good laugh about it all, he told the court.

Adding to the severity of the case, Sebastien alleged that Aubey even threatened his children when he demanded repayment.

In his defense Aubey claimed that his money was frozen in Cyprus by his former club Olympiakos Nicosia, and insisted that he had not committed fraud.

This wasn’t a fraud – I never robbed anyone, he told the court.

However, the evidence proved otherwise leading to his sentencing. Alongside the two-year prison term, Aubey has been ordered to repay €145,000 to Sebastien and is prohibited from contacting his victim.

Meanwhile his accomplice, Mohamed Dia, received a one-year suspended sentence for his role in the scam.

Aubey who earned five caps for Congo and played for clubs like Toulouse Rennes, Reims, and Lens, had a short-lived Premier League career with Portsmouth in 2008 under Harry Redknapp. Though he made three league appearances, he missed out on Pompey’s FA Cup-winning campaign that year.

His fall from professional football to financial scandal is a stark contrast to his once-promising career, marking yet another case of an ex-footballer entangled in legal troubles.