A Crown Court hearing into an alleged multi-million-pound fraud carried out by former Premier League defender Richard Rufus was adjourned on Thursday after he turned up without a lawyer.
At a pre-trial preparation hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Rufus was given until October 3 to answer charges of fraud by false representation, possessing £5.3million of criminal property and accepting deposits without being authorised to do so between 2007 and 2012.
As well as granting a four-week adjournment to give Rufus more time to secure legal counsel, Judge David Tomlinson also provisionally ordered a trial starting on June 8.
Rufus gave no indication of a plea on Thursday, having done the same at a hearing at City of London Magistrates’ Court last month.
Rufus did have legal representation at that hearing, at which chair Spyros Elia told him the matter was “so serious” that it needed to be dealt with in a Crown Court.
Rufus, of Crystal Palace, was once voted Charlton’s greatest ever defender by fans.
He retired in 2004, after suffering a career-ending cruciate ligament injury, before entering the financial sector.
