During the hearing at Southwark Crown Court, James Francis Byrne, 30, who started up the scheme in 2008, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a further six years’ consecutive jail time for a subsequent fraud uncovered by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Byrne’s accomplices, Sam Exall, 31, Max Jefferys, 31, and Michael Foran, 27, were handed a combined sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Jeffreys was also given a four years’ consecutive sentence for a separate fraud. The defendants are estimated to have made £1.6m from the scheme which defrauded their victims of £7.5m.
The boiler room, which was initially named Paramount Land, saw the defendants target vulnerable and elderly victims by using aggressive cold-calling tactics to pressure them into making investments in land at a grossly inflated price. Land was sold making false guarantees on the future value, while land was also sold that the group did not own. Investors were then persuaded to invest more money to get their money back through a purchase of their portfolio from a nameless conglomerate that never existed.
To move money around, members of the group ran several umbrella companies, while Jefferys acted as a salesman making calls to the victims.
City of London Police detective sergeant, Marcus McInerney, officer in charge of the case said: “These defendants caused intense misery for their victims. They used the money to enjoy lavish and extravagant lifestyles leaving their victims destitute. The nasty selling techniques which ultimately intimidated and deceived victims and forced them to part with their hard-earned money were an added humiliation.”
The scheme was brought to the attention of the City of London Police in November 2010, when they became aware of fraudulent activity taking place in rented office accommodation in Dowgate Hill, London.
Following investigation, Bryne was arrested in February 2011, but the boiler room continued to operate from a secret location until March 2011, when the location was identified and further arrests were made.
McInerney added: “Through the asset recovery procedure, we will now work to recover as much of their ill-gotten gains as possible, to ensure that they do not benefit from their offending and in order to achieve compensation for the victims.”
