Fraudulent Leicestershire financial adviser jailed for three years
A convicted fraudster has received a second prison term after securing a £200,000 mortgage using fraudulent documents and a fake identity.
Cindy Brad, a former financial advisor, appeared at Leicester Crown Court on 21 July 2022, where she received a three-year sentence having pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation and two counts of acting in breach of a disqualification order.
Selvi Civi also appeared at court and received a four-month sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation.
The court heard that Brad, from Melton Mowbray, had previously been jailed for 18 months in 2009 after she was convicted of theft from clients she was advising, and obtaining money by deception. She was also disqualified as a company director for 10 years.
After she was released from prison, however, Brad continued to carry out criminal activities.
She used three different identities to disguise her criminal past and disqualification status. This allowed her to formally change her name and obtain fresh identity documents.
Brad used one of these different identities and supplied false banking documents to secure a £200,000 mortgage before reneging on the repayments.
The convicted fraudster incorporated several companies to enable her to act as a financial adviser, which was in direct breach of her 10-year disqualification order. While acting as an advisor Brad made a fraudulent £100,000 loan application on behalf of Civi using false documents.
Brad also made false representations to the disclosure barring agencies in England and Wales, and Scotland, to secure certificates that would allow her to become an authorised representative of financial services companies.
SCivi, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, aided Brad’s criminal activities when she allowed Brad as a financial advisor to apply for a £100,000 loan on her behalf using false documents.
On passing sentence, the judge said that Brad had carried out “sophisticated forgery” and that personal difficulties did not justify the fraud carried out.
The judge also disqualified Brad from being a director for the maximum period of 15 years.
The Insolvency Service intends to recover the proceeds of these crimes.
Glenn Wicks, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Despite having already served time for similar offences, this did not deter Cindy Brad, and the convicted fraudster continued to apply for substantial loans worth thousands of pounds, using a variety of false documents and fake identities.
“Thanks to the joint work between the Insolvency Service, the police and other government agencies, we were able to uncover Cindy Brad’s duplicitous activities. The courts recognised the severity of her actions and her 3-year sentence should serve as a warning that we will use the full extent of the law to investigate and prosecute fraudsters.”
