Confiscation Obtained in Multi Million Pound Fraud

The Metropolitan Police's Serious Crime Directorate carried out an investigation into a conspiracy to defraud, which centered on a business partnership. The fraud spanned a 6 year period between 1998 and 2004. This business was a partnership run by a man aged 58 of Prestwich and a second man aged 55 of Salford, Manchester, aided by a third man aged 49 of Liverpool, Merseyside.

The business premises were located in Middleton, Manchester, and during the period of the fraud they purported to offer international commercial finance to the business community in order to facilitate the development of various commercial projects. However, the business had no access to these funds and were therefore incapable of providing this service. The business obtained advance fee and other payments from numerous international victims with the sums they received totalling £3,528.030.52.

This fraudulent business afforded the three individuals large sums of money, which they used in various ways.

One of the men was convicted of conspiracy to defraud on the 14th of February 2007 and received a 6 year prison sentence. Another of the men was convicted of the same offence and was sentenced to a term of 4 years and 9 months imprisonment on the 9th of June 2008. The third man received a sentence of 2 years imprisonment for the same offence on the 25th of October 2007.

The London RART took on the financial investigation and brought it to a successful conclusion with two confiscation orders being made at Liverpool Crown Court. On the 15th of December 2008, one of the men was ordered to pay £425,000 with a further 3 and a half years being added to his sentence if he fails to satisfy the order. The sscond man was ordered to pay £164,758.32 on the 16th December and he will face a further 27 months imprisonment if he fails to do so. The third man has had his confiscation hearing adjourned until March 2009.

DCI Sean Wanless, Head of London RART said: "Today's result is a successful conclusion to a complex investigation which saw numerous victims defrauded on an international level. These victims believed that they would receive a return on their investments, instead they used the money for their own gains. The London RART will continue in its commitment to ensuring that criminals do not benefit from crime."