A BUSINESSMAN who used investors’ money to support the band of former X-Factor star Danyl Johnson has gone to jail for seven years for fraud.

Former BBC employee Andrew Papadopoulos, 40, of Eagle Lane in Snaresbrook, went on the run after losing more than £6 million belonging to hundreds of investors.

When the Guardian reported his disappearance early in 2005 the paper received anonymous calls suggesting he had been murdered over his debts but in fact he had fled abroad and was only tracked down in June of this year to the Pink Palace resort in Corfu where he was arrested while working as a DJ.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court heard that between 2003 and 2005 Papadopoulos ran an unauthorised investment scheme called Multi Investments or Multi Ventures which supposedly guaranteed private investors a 17.5 per cent return on their money every 12 weeks.

He invested the money in sports and pop memorabilia including the wedding certificate of Elvis and Lise-Marie Presley which he bought for £27,000.

He also helped fund the fledgling boy-band Upfrunt - which counted former X-Factor contestant Danyl Johnson among its five members. Despite paying £10,000 towards the band's costs, Upfrunt never released a record or performed a gig.

Today Papadopoulos, originally of Addison Road in Wanstead, was sentenced to seven years in jail after being convicted of 18 counts of fraud.

After sentencing the investigating officer Detective Sergeant Richard Ward of the Metropolitan Police said: "This man caused untold personal and financial misery to hundreds of investors who lost life savings, inheritance and pensions.

"Many were forced into selling homes; many of their lives have been ruined.

"People invested because of the high-yields promised and because of the glamour of spread-betting, sports and pop memorabilia and the music industry.

"But Papadopoulos's venture was as ill-fated as the boy band he invested in."