Brit fraudster, 50, who swindled pensioners out of £29m through collapsed expat firm is jailed in Spain after losing both appeals

From the Newshound archive · first published 6 October 2026 · last updated 7 October 2026.

Jody Pearson — who also went by the name Jody Smart — is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence at Alicante's Cumplimiento prison after a Spanish court convicted her of fraud connected to the collapse of Continental Wealth Management. The former model and ex-boss of CWM surrendered voluntarily once she had exhausted appeals at both the Valencia High Court and Spain's Supreme Court. CWM shut down abruptly in 2017, leaving more than 900 expats cut off from retirement funds and investment bonds worth an estimated £29 million.

Pearson sold pensioners a Costa Blanca property that never existed — Sally Anne Hodgson lost £59,000, Tim Benjamin lost money on the phantom deal, and Mark Davison lost £679,000 before dying without seeing justice.

A court has ordered Pearson to pay £316,000 in compensation to Hodgson and Benjamin, a fraction of the £29m her firm is estimated to have cost clients overall.

Throughout her appeals Pearson had been permitted to continue running the Oceana Club in Benissa — she is now behind bars.