David Ross’s mobile phone has been buzzing. One half of Britain’s most successful retailing duo, he made his fortune from the devices, building Carphone Warehouse into one of the high street’s biggest names.

After the worst week of Ross’s career, his mobile phone has proved to be his salvation. Ross has received more than 500 text messages of support since he was forced to disclose last Monday morning that he had borrowed against his shares in Carphone and other public companies to fund a private business empire that had placed big bets on commercial property.

Ross is a private individual despite his glitzy personal life and political and City connections, but the furore propelled him onto the front pages. The texts flooded in. “Your friends know who you are,” read one. Another said: “The person we are reading about is not someone we recognise.”

Ross, whose family made its fortune in frozen food, is the latest entrepreneur to have flown too close to the sun. He offered to resign all his directorships and lost his roles at the property group Big Yellow, National Express and Carphone, where he had remained deputy chairman since stepping back from day-to-day responsibility in 2005. At Cosalt, the marine-safety firm once run by his grandfather, he remains a director but has stepped down as chairman.

“It’s deeply regrettable,” said Ross. “My shares are owned by me and the deals I entered into were perfectly above board. Words like scandal just aren’t appropriate.”

Until December 5, Carphone’s week had been dominated by busy trading in the run-up to Christmas. That all changed for Charles Dunstone, Ross’s co-founder, when an e-mail arrived from Carphone’s company secretary, Tim Morris. He had just taken a call from Ross’s lawyer at Osborne Clarke. They had spent the day in consultation with the Financial Services Authority after discovering an anomaly with Ross’s investments.

The advice was clear: Ross had broken stock-market rules and Carphone needed to disclose before trading resumed after the weekend that its second-largest shareholder with a 19.4% stake had mortgaged shares to invest in the property market.

A conference call of the board was convened for Sunday evening. Directors including Tesco veteran John Gildersleeve dialled in to rubber-stamp the Monday morning statement Carphone planned to issue.

If Dunstone, who owns 32.6% of Carphone, was angry at the actions of his old friend, he wasn’t letting on. “I’ve known David since he was 13,” he said. “We all make mistakes. Unfortunately, his ended up being incredibly public.”

Had he never wondered where the money was coming from to invest in so much property?

“No, no I didn’t. He’s a very rich man. I don’t know the extent of his business. David’s always had an interest in property. My heart has been in Carphone so I haven’t had time to do anything else,” he said.

Was he angry? “Not really. What is the point? He doesn’t want to cause anyone any trouble.”

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