Prince Charles' charity fraudster jailed for three years

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 24 Aug 2010

The finance director for Prince of Wales’ former charity the Foundation for Integrated Health has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing £250,000 from the charity.

George Gray, who was reportedly on a salary of £80,000 a year, admitted to taking £250,000 from the organisation after racking up £850,000 of debt.

The incident caused the trustees to bring forward the planned closure of the charity.

The fraud was highlighted in April by auditors who could not account for missing money. The charity has yet to file accounts for 2008 with the Charity Commission, but the latest figures submitted show the charity had an income of around £1.1m in 2007 and 14 staff members.

Gray’s wife, Gillian, who was also arrested by police in April, was released on bail and is not facing any further action.

Gray admitted theft, fraud and money-laundering at Southwark Crown Court. He moved charity funds into his accounts 35 times over a period of two-and-a-half years.

Prosecuter David Levy added: “The 19 other charities of the Prince’s Trust have also suffered because of this.”

The Foundation was set up in 1993 by the Prince to promote a "whole-person approach to health", which the charity contends has now been embraced by both the public and government bodies.

Though its website is still live and the charity is still registered with the Charity Commission, plans of its closure are announced on its website.

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