The former agent of the London 2012 Olympic long jump champion, Greg Rutherford, has been jailed for 18 months after cheating him out of £48,000 to fund a gambling addiction.
Gab Stone, 34, of west London, who was responsible for organising Rutherford’s commercial and merchandise deals as well as his celebrity appearances, claimed he had lost the money in an investment scheme that had gone wrong.
When Rutherford asked his accountants to conduct an audit, Stone admitted he had lost the money on gambling.
Rutherford, who began working with Stone’s agency, GSE management, from 2009, said the news had left him facing “severe financial pressure” as well as stress and anxiety that may have affected his sporting performance.
The court heard that despite his confession to Rutherford and an offer to return the money, Stone stayed quiet when interrogated by police and insisted he would fight a fraud charge. He pleaded guilty just before his trial was to begin.
After jailing Stone for fraud by abuse of position the judge, John Hillen, told Blackfriars crown court: “People in and out of the public eye rely upon companies such as yours to supply management so they can concentrate on their profession or their talent.
“What you did was to take advantage of Greg Rutherford’s trust for your own addictive pleasure – a gambling habit which you had addressed in the past but which resurfaced.
“You lied to him, because what you were doing was to repeatedly betray the trust he had placed in you, by getting your finances into such a state you were spending money on gambling which should have been spent on your business and paying him what was owed to him. You told him he had made a bad investment and that had resulted in him losing £40,000.”
Some of Stone’s clients have stuck by him despite his conviction, writing to the court with character references. The judge said the letters would have meant more if Stone had confessed to his crimes after first being arrested.
He added: “Mr Rutherford, in his victim impact statement, stated the thought of someone responsible for a huge part of his life and work, someone who he put trust in to handle a major source of income, was in fact being dishonest just left him feeling sick.
“He talked of the stress on him and his family because of the financial consequences, not least being potentially liable for income tax on money he had never received, and the need to keep funding training under severe financial pressures resulting from your dishonesty.”
A contract between the pair said Stone would take a 20% cut of Rutherford’s gross income from work generated for him. Rutherford, who won bronze at the Rio Olympics before taking part in the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing, would sometimes have to wait up to three months for payments.
It was calculated by accountants that £62,800 was owed to Rutherford but this figure was reduced to £48,488. The court heard Stone, with the help of friends and family members, had repaid the full amount but Hillen said: “No one can buy their way out of prison.”
Julia Flanagan, defending, said Stone, who counted the gymnast Louis Smith and the boxer Nicola Adams among his clients, was trying to turn his life around. “He knows he has demons but he’s doing everything he can to face them down,” she added.
