“These men are amongst the most arrogant, ruthless and destructive criminals the City of London police have ever dealt with and deserve every day they will spend behind bars,” said Det Insp Kerrie Gower, who led the investigation.” –http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23421571
Image sourced from- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23421571
Richard Pope, Paul Gunter and Simon Odoni have been found guilty and jailed for what is considered one of the biggest scams from the UK.
Their sentences total 43 years imprisonment in the United States for their role within investment fraud. The trio conned £80m out of British investors. This money was placed into a number of US bank accounts and allowed them to continue living their lavish and expensive lifestyles. The international criminal gang tricked at least 2,300 citizens from the UK.
“The City of London police believe it’s the UK’s biggest boiler room scam”.- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23421571
The police described the men’s scam operation as a chain of boiler rooms in Spain, who had hundreds of employees which would cold called investors. They used pressurized and deceptive sales techniques to trick them into purchasing shares that were worthless.
The majority of their victims were professionals who had retired. Their losses range anything from a couple of hundred pounds to £1m. Mark Goswami committed suicide after losing around £200,000.
“How could they be so arrogant to think they could get away with it, and have no conscience about it, and just to destroy people’s lives in this way, just for money and just for sheer greed, and is it greed that’s all that it’s about – they say money’s the root of all evil and they are evil for what they’ve done,” the victim’s wife Andrea Goswami said. “-“I’m never going to get my life back – the life I had with my husband, my chances of a happy married life with my daughter – we were trying for another child at the time, those hopes have been destroyed. Financially it’s been devastating and it’s a struggle, it will continue to be a struggle because of what they did.”- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23421571
Mark Goswami’s money, along with the other victim’s stolen money paid for a £350,000 personal aeroplane, 26 properties, a number of flash cars, speedboats and paid towards the expansion of their criminal network.
This sentencing shows much importance and closure to the seven year investigation which involved the work from a number of law enforcement agencies ranging from Spain to Florida.
Back in 2004 the fraud began, when Pope, 55, Gunter, 64 and Odoni, 56 possessed the identity of a number of fraudulent companies based in the US. Fake stock was sold to unsuspecting investors from call centres based in Spain.
The trio attempted to create a false credibility for their ‘companies’ by producing brochures and webpages. The seriousness and size of the case was realized in 2006 when the City of London Police found connections between inquiries in the UK and investigations of federal agencies within the US.
“ “The devastation and the impact that victims have suffered has been huge and it’s had drastic consequences to individuals lives – marriages breaking down, selling of properties, individuals losing their businesses, having to work again when they were about to go in to retirement,” said Det Insp Gower.”- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23421571
In March 2011 Richard Pope pleaded guilty when arrested in Spain, to conspiracy to commit wired and mail fraud between the years 2004 and 2008.
Pope testified against Odoni and Gunter in March this year. Both these men were found guilty on three counts. Including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, 19 counts of money laundering and 19 counts of mail and wire fraud. Originally, Gunter and Pope had worked together in the UK in insurance.
Simon Odoni was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months, Paul Gunter was sentenced to 25 years and Richard Pope was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months. Pope received a reduced sentence due to his co-operation.
Information sourced from-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23421571