A MORMON high priest stole thousands of pounds from a church syndicate he was investing in a fund linked to the US President, a court heard this week.

Investment banker Jonathon Christopher Wilkes, 56, of Brecon Close, Melksham was appearing at Swindon Crown Court charged with the theft of almost £50,000 from investors between 1988 and 2000. He denies the charges.

The court heard Mr Wilkes, the Mormon high priest for Trowbridge, was acting as investment agent in an elaborate scheme to link up with $37 trillion belonging to the President.

The court was told Mr Wilkes stole up to £50,000 from a church investment pool to pay for his rent, bills, council tax, a new car and personal loans.

The syndicate was told the scheme would net them over £1m in just 18 weeks if they invested £10,000.

Syndicate member Christopher Ralph, of Kingston Deverill, said he had known Jonathon Wilkes for over 10 years through the Mormon church.

He said: "Wilkes explained it was a high yield investment with phenomenal returns, not available to the ordinary man on the street but only for the super rich, with returns of hundreds and thousands of per cent in a relatively short period of time.

"It seemed to defy all our understanding of how people invest and get returns.

"Under our questioning he told the syndicate he was Temple Recommended, which in our church means he is honest in all acts to other men."

In 1998 seven consortium members signed up to the investment plan and sought to raise $500,000 to be put in an offshore account.

Mr Ralph said: "Wilkes explained that the source of the money was the Federal Reserve Bank in the USA.

"Our understanding was there was a money mountain in there of 37 trillion dollars. It's a lot of dollars not accountable to the US Congress so it became a plaything of the President, who at that time was Bill Clinton.

"Money was available to promote humanitarian causes in areas where it would not be politically acceptable, such as rebuilding Beirut in Lebanon.

"The $500,000 was to show the bank we had money to invest, but the goalposts changed and it was soon $1m needed."

The court heard Mr Wilkes got the syndicate into the scheme at the third attempt, with much lower than expected returns.

The FBI was alerted in 2000 when a man named in court as Randy Hirch, of Transworld International in Nevada, did not return their dividends to the consortium.

Mr Wilkes pleaded not guilty to all charges of theft at an earlier hearing.

The trial continues and is expected to last three weeks.