A CONMAN who stole nearly £40,000 from his neighbours has been ordered to pay back just £1.

Keith Fryer, aged 69, stole the money over a four-year period from a management company set up to care for the communal areas of The Parklands, a gated apartment complex in Stoneclough where he lived.

He used the £38,850 he stole from the management company to help pay personal debts and those built up by two companies he ran.

Even after the thefts, he still had debts of more than £47,000 when arrested.

Fryer, who was jailed for three years in September, has also spent time in custody in America.

In 1997, he was imprisoned for five years for the part he played in a US$18 million “Ponzi” investment scheme.

He managed to persuade dozens of investors in the Philadelphia area to hand over large sums of cash, which he said he was using to finance second mortgages in England and Wales, taking advantage of the UK’s higher interest rates and promising large returns.

But despite him taking the money, the police were not able to find any assets.

Yesterday, Bolton Crown Court heard he has negative equity on his home, and he owes more on his car than it is worth.

The benefit figure of his crime was £42,925 but he will only pay back £1.

Finance investigator Tony Wood said: “We were unable to trace any assets from this case, or the American case.”

But if Fryer comes into any money following his release from jail, it can be seized by the courts.

Mr Wood said: “This will stay with him forever, so if anyone comes forward with information of where any assets might be hidden, we can go back to court.”

Fryer had denied two counts of obtaining money transfers by deception and three charges of fraud during a six-day trial in June but a jury found him guilty.

He had pleaded guilty to forgery by faking invoices supposedly from the complex’s gardener, but claimed to have only reimbursed himself for money he had paid out of his own pocket — the court rejected his claims.

Fryer has also been featured on the BBC consumer programme Watchdog for his dealings in the UK.

With his neighbours unaware of his past, he volunteered to act as treasurer for The Parklands management company and would often be given blank cheques by the directors to pay for what they thought were legitimate expenses.