The gang used their boiler room operation to target victims by cold-calling them. They then used a variety of lies, aggression and pressure to convince victims to make investments in land at a grossly inflated cost.
James Francis Byrne, aged 30, of Seven Sea Gardens, London E3 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday 2 August. He was also sentenced to six years’ consecutive imprisonment for a subsequent fraud investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Sam Exall, aged 31, of Orpington, Kent, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown court on 12 October.
Max Jefferys, aged 31, of Woodford Green, London, pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 18 months on 2 October. He also received four years in prison for committing a subsequent fraud, investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Michael Foran, aged 27, of Whitton Walk, London E3, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and was sentenced to 18 months on Monday 21 November. He also received four and a half years consecutive sentence for a subsequent fraud investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Mr Byrne set up a boiler room operation in 2008, initially named ‘Paramount Land’ but the name changed several times during its three-year existence. The defendants subsequently set up numerous umbrella companies to move money around. Fellow directors Sam Exall and Michael Foran assisted with the running of the operation while Max Jefferys was a salesman making calls to victims.
Paramount Land bought agricultural land for low prices and then sold it for far more than it could ever be worth and did this by making false guarantees as to the future value. They also sold land that they did not own. They then convinced investors that the only way they could get their money back was to invest more money so that their portfolio could be bought out by a nameless conglomerate that never existed.
In November 2010, the City of London Police became aware of a suspected boiler room operation taking place in rented office accommodation in Dowgate Hill, London. Officers from the City of London Police’s fraud teams started to investigate and Mr Bryne was arrested on 2 February 2011 but the boiler room continued to function from a secret location. This was identified in March 2011 when the boiler room was shut down and further arrests were conducted.
Computer evidence and documents were seized from the rented offices and the defendants’ addresses. Banking material demonstrated that the defendants made large sums of money from the fraud totalling £1.6 million. The full details of the case are only being released now as reporting restrictions were lifted at Southwark Crown Court on Monday 21 November.
City of London Police Detective Sergeant Marcus McInerney, officer in charge of the case said: “These defendants caused intense misery for their victims. They used the money to enjoy lavish and extravagant lifestyles leaving their victims destitute. The nasty selling techniques which ultimately intimidated and deceived victims and forced them to part with their hard-earned money were an added humiliation.
“Through the asset recovery procedure, we will now work to recover as much of their ill-gotten gains as possible, to ensure that they do not benefit from their offending and in order to achieve compensation for the victims.”
The investigation into accomplices in the boiler room continues.