In a case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), five individuals have been sentenced to a total of 17.5 years’ imprisonment for their roles in a share fraud carried out through a series of boiler room companies which led to the loss of more than £2.8m of investors’ money.
The sentencing of five defendants was concluded today at Southwark Crown Court. The sixth defendant, Michael Nascimento (DOB 28th June 1977), will be sentenced on the 14th September 2018. He was the controlling mind, instigator and the main beneficiary of the fraud.
Commenting on the case, Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said:
“These fraudsters callously targeted investors who were often elderly and vulnerable, lying to them to get them to part with significant sums of money. Despite efforts to conceal and destroy evidence, the FCA, in one of its largest ever investigations, was able to ensure that these criminals faced justice and ended up behind bars.
Applications under Proceeds of Crime legislation remain on foot and the FCA is determined to recover as much money from these defendants as possible for the benefit of investors.”
In sentencing the defendants, the trial judge, His Honour Judge Hehir, remarked these were “scams from start to finish” and that “some victims have lost everything they had.” He also added that it was “particularly repellent” that elderly people had been specifically targeted and their stories “were at times positively heart-breaking.”
Leave a Comment