Duped by a designer dud

His winning personality and gold-plated reputation drew investors with ease but as John Hearne reports by Dec 2008, as the financial crisis morphed into recession, everyone wanted their money back... but it wasn’t there

EVERYTHING fell apart on Friday, Dec 12, 2008. In the months leading up to that date, the global economic outlook had grown darker by the week.

The housing market had collapsed in the US, stock markets had plummeted.