Two more members of an east London organised criminal gang who conned 90 people out of £2.3 million including pension savings have been jailed today (Mon).
They join six others jailed in August for the massive fraud using companies registered at Companies House as well as dummy companies.
The London Carbon Credit Company was used for a carbon credit fraud and Henderson International Associates for a pension transfer fraud.
Michael Foran, a 27-year-old from Whitton Walk off the Roman Road in Bow, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud, along with Kallan Henry, also 27, from Tilbury in Essex.
Foran got four-and-a-half years at Southwark Crown Court, while Henry was given 18 months.
A third gang member, Migle Sasyte, 31, from Galleons Road in Beckton, was found guilty of receiving criminal property and fraud. She is being sentenced in January.
The frauds involved carbon credits which can be sold on and traded with investors making a financial return on their outlay. But the carbon credits were worthless, the trial heard.
The gang appeared to be legitimate employers hiring staff as ‘deal openers’ who would make up to 500 cold calls a day to explain the “benefits of investing”—but were then sacked for not reaching their targets.
The ‘deal closers’ would tell lies to persuade victims to part with their money—then coined ‘commissions’ on their sales.
Victims often took out loans or extended mortgages to pay for what they were led to believe were genuine assets. Some transferred pension savings built up over a lifetime.
“This organised criminal group defrauded people out of millions of pounds selling carbon credits they knew were worthless,” Det Con Mark Loftus said after today’s court sentencing.
“The leaders instructed staff to make hundreds of ‘cold calls’ a day and then tell lies to prospective customers to persuade them to invest in the fraud.
“But we were able to expose the deception of the men who posed as legitimate businessmen.”
Some 78 people were conned into buying worthless carbon credits and 12 were convinced to transfer their pensions.
Foran was responsible for running a team of ‘openers’. Henry played the part of a ‘front man’ as the director of several spurious companies, a signatory to the bank accounts receiving commissions.
Other gang members jailed in August include ringleader James Byrne, a 30-year-old from Seven Sea Gardens off Violet Road in Bromley-by-Bow, slapped with a 11 years, and his father James Byrne, 57, from Whitton Walk, Bow, given five years.
Other sentences in August were five years for Vladimir Rusaliychev, 32, from Galleons Road in Beckton, and four years each for Young Erumuse, 35, from Springdale Road in Stoke Newington, Max Jefferys, 31, from Whitehall Road in Woodford Green, and Samuel Henriot, 25, from Bermuda Road in Tilbury.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here