Ex-wife of conman Freddy David ‘had no reason’ to think he was engaged in criminal activity

The ex-wife of the convicted fraudster Freddy David — who conned members of the Jewish community out of more than £15 million to feed his gambling addiction — has told the Sunday Times that she “had no reason” to believe that David was engaged in criminal activity, and was unaware of what was going on until armed police turned up at their front door in 2017.

Hannah David, a former Conservative local councillor and a one-time prospective parliamentary candidate in Harrow West, says she is now working with Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on gambling-related harm, to campaign about the damage of gambling addiction on friends and families.

Freddy David was sentenced to six years in prison for theft and fraud. He was released in June last year. He was the managing director of a wealth management company, HBFS, which had a legitimate side to its business; but he also set up a Ponzi scheme in which he stole money from clients, in order to fund his gambling habit.

Mrs David, a qualified solicitor, told the Sunday Times that she believes banks should bear responsibility if they see that large sums of money are going from individual accounts to the accounts of gambling companies.