Fraudsters ordered to pay £11m in biggest ever boiler room scam
TWO men who stood trial alongside a former senior partner at Fox Hayes Solicitors, the Leeds-based firm which went into administration in 2009, have been ordered to pay £11m in compensation for their part in a major fraud scheme.
Convicted fraudsters Jeffrey Revell-Reade and Anthony May were yesterday hit by confiscation orders at Southwark Crown Court.
At a hearing, Revell-Reade, an Australian national, was ordered to pay £10,751,000 while £250,000 was demanded from May.
Both men are serving sentences for what is believed to be one of the largest boiler room fraud schemes ever pursued by a UK authority.
A boiler room fraud involves a business, often from overseas, persistently pushing the urgent sale of over-valued or even worthless shares in a company.
Revell-Reade was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud in relation to an investigation that was launched by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2007. From 2003-2007, a total of around £70m was obtained fraudulently from UK investors under the fraud scheme he masterminded.
May, who lived in Switzerland and then moved to Spain, was also found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud. May administered the processing of shares distributed to investors and managed the finances of the conspiracy, using and managing off-shore bank accounts to distribute the funds obtained.
The pair sold shares in US-listed companies and when investors came to sell the shares after the expiry period, many found they were unable to as they were worthless, either placed in shell companies or companies not operating at all.
Their convictions were linked to seven other individuals, also convicted and sentenced.
Mark Thompson, head of the SFO’s proceeds of crime division, said: “These individuals benefited substantially from their crimes. Their lavish lifestyles featured numerous overseas properties, wine collections and a luxury yacht. We welcome these orders which the pair now need to pay or face a further period of imprisonment.”
Both men were given three months each to pay the orders or face an additional prison sentence in default of payment.
It was ordered that the sums paid towards the confiscation orders are to be returned to the victims in the case.
In June 2014 Revell-Reade, the mastermind of the fraud, was sentenced to a further eight years and six months in prison, having already served the equivalent of a year in prison overseas whilst contesting extradition.
May was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.
Revell-Reade was also disqualified from being a director of a company for 12 years and May for 10 years.
