Cash recovered from ex-Nasa scientist turned scammer

Investors who were defrauded out of more than £1m by a former Nasa scientist will get most of their money back.

John Burford, from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, admitted defrauding 100 investors and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2025.

Despite not being authorised to, Burford had offered trade alerts and investment opportunities in “managed funds” through his firm Financial Trading Strategies between 2016 and 2021.

At a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, the 86-year-old was ordered to pay £655,951.40 after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) obtained a confiscation order against him.

Burford has a PhD in physics from the University of Toronto and worked for Nasa in its manned Mars exploration team based in Washington D.C. before moving into finance, according to his author biography on a publisher’s website.

The FCA said Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard he had generated more than £1m through his illegal investment schemes but only traded £760,000, most of which was lost.

Substantial amounts of money investors sent him were actually used to buy a house, a court heard in June 2025.

The FCA said he repeatedly misled investors about fund performance, concealed losses and used their money for personal gain.

The regulator said the payout ordered against Burford is the total value of assets the court found could still be recovered and returned directly to his victims.

It said the payments, together with previous payments from Burford to investors, means an estimated 99% of the money originally invested by the roughly 70 known victims will have been returned.

Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Mr Burford scammed investors to fund his own lavish lifestyle.

“Clawing back stolen money from fraudsters and returning it to victims sends a clear message that crime doesn’t pay.”