Duo convicted in wake of boiler room investment fraud

The defendants were part of an organised criminal group which has been sentenced after a series of four separate trials involving two separate frauds. One arose from the Capitol Finance Group which sold investments in a non-existent scheme to lend money to payday loan companies. The other involved the fraudulent selling of diamonds as investments which were worth only a fraction of their sale price.

Both frauds were organised by the same individuals and operated from the same offices in Birmingham and London.

Shivmangal and Ward were directly involved in the diamond fraud. Elderly victims were targeted using high-pressure sales techniques. They were cold-called and pressured into investing in diamonds, with promises of high rates of return. In fact, the fraudsters had purchased the diamonds cheaply and then sold them to the investors at highly inflated prices.

The fraudsters additionally offered safe storage of the diamonds which allowed them to re-sell diamonds to different victim investors. Shivmangal and Ward controlled the account through which much of the fraudulent profits moved.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reviewed the case and brought charges after an extensive and thorough investigation conducted by the Hampshire Police (initially) and also the South East Regional Crime Unit.

Cynical targeting

Roger Makanjuola of the CPS explained: “This was a particularly unpleasant fraud resulting in vulnerable victims losing their life savings and their physical and mental health being adversely affected. The defendants had cynically targeted elderly and generally inexperienced investors. The investors were cold-called at home and pressured into investing money in schemes with the promise of high-value returns.”

Makanjuola continued: “The fraudsters presented themselves in a credible way and secured the trust of over 100 victims. The only people to benefit from the schemes were the fraudsters themselves and those who assisted them in laundering the proceeds of their crimes.”

Makanjuola has thanked the many victims who supported this prosecution and the hard-working Hampshire Police and South East Regional Crime Unit who enabled the CPS to prove the case against Shivmangal, Ward and the others involved in this criminal enterprise.

The CPS prosecutes all types of fraud including investment fraud. This type of fraud occurs when fraudsters deceive potential investors into purchases based on false information. In practice, this can happen in a number of ways. A legitimate company may tell investors that its profits are larger than they already are, or fraudsters could otherwise set up a sham company in order to entice victims to invest.

Whatever the type of investment fraud involved, the CPS is very much about delivering swift justice for victims where a case meets its legal tests.