A former reality TV star has been held on suspicion of playing a part in a £3million fraud allegedly run from Barcelona by the father of the fiancee of footballer Gareth Bale.
Jamie-Lee Church, who won a record deal after appearing on ITV's Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 was arrested as US detectives investigate whether she was involved in the 'boiler room scam'.
The crime is thought to have been run from Spain by Martin Rhys-Jones, 49, the father of Real Madrid player Mr Bale's fiancee Emma.
The footballer and Miss Rhys-Jones are not accused of any wrongdoing.
Jamie Lee-Church has been arrested in Spain and faces extradition to the US
Mr Rhys-Jones is currently on remand in a US jail, after people claimed that they were sold 'near worthless' shares at sky high prices.
The Sunday Mirror reported that Miss Church, 27, is one of 12 defendants being investigated in connection with the fraud and now faces extradition to the US.
She is accused of posing as 'Charlotte Keys' and cold-calling victims to persuade them to buy stocks containing 'false and fraudulent representations'.
Gareth Bale with his fiancee Emma Rhys-Jones and their daughter Alba Violet Bale. Neither the footballer, nor his partner have been accused of any wrongdoing
It is alleged that Miss Church, a former hairdresser from Brighton who has also appeared in men's magazines, made £50,000 from her part in the scam.
She was arrested earlier this month.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Spain in November 2013.
'We provided consular assistance.'
The gang are believed to have been operating for at least three years.
Mr Bale, 24 and his fiancee are believed to have put their wedding plans on hold after Mr Rhys-Jones was extradited to the US in June and, along with 11 others, charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
He is accused of running a telemarketing scam from offices in Barcelona between 2006 and 2009 that duped victims in the UK and Canada into buying expensive shares that were almost worthless.
Rhys-Jones set up business in the Spanish city – where there is a ferocious footballing rivalry with Bale's new Real Madrid – in 2005 after separating from his wife, Suzanne, in Cardiff.
He is facing up to 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of £160,000 if convicted.
Investigators claim Rhys-Jones got staff to generate false press releases claiming share prices were of a much higher value than they were being traded.
He allegedly hired staff to make fraudulent calls, offering them rent-free homes in Barcelona and a sales commission.
US investigators say the sales team would not tell customers that the stocks were restricted, meaning they could not be easily sold on the open market.
Twitter picture of Martin Rhys-Jones, who is the father of footballer Gareth Bale's girlfriend Emma Rhys Jones. Martin Rhys-Jones is on remand in an American jail accused of global financial fraud
The indictment states that when customers were eventually sent share certificates ‘the value of the stock had dropped to nearly nothing’.
More than £3.2million was invested by unwitting customers in the scheme before the money was transferred to bank accounts in New York, Spain, the UK and Switzerland, prosecutors say.
They have accused Rhys-Jones of laundering money through an Abbey National branch in the Channel Islands, along with banks in Barcelona and Germany.
The US probe is being run by the Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service and Immigration and Customs.
US Grand Jury indictment documents reveal that Rhys-Jones also used the aliases Martin Reece and John Allen while in Barcelona.
Miss Rhys-Jones and Bale, who became childhood sweethearts at Whitchurch High School in Cardiff, carried out a long-distance relationship for eight years after Bale’s moves to Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur and she moved into his Essex mansion only two years ago.
The notoriously private pair, who have a one-year-old baby Alba Violet Bale, have tended to eschew public appearances together in the past.
Source-Dailymail
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