Hasmukh Thakor told his victim the money would be invested in two separate property schemes – one a set of holiday flats in Cyprus and another, a buy-to-let project in Birmingham.
Instead, Leicester Crown Court heard that he squandered the cash by paying off personal debts before eventually being declared bankrupt owing almost £400,000.
As the Leicester Mercury reported, Thakor had used three different names for his brokerage, Select Mortgage Service, Select Property Financial Ltd and Select35, but was unregulated at the time of the frauds in August 2008.
A year later he was declared bankrupt with more than £31,000 owed to secured creditors and £365,000 to unsecured creditors.
Aston Martin boast
Thakor had sought to impress the investor by claiming he owned an Aston Martin car, had many satisfied clients and also boasted fake certificates from trade bodies and regulators.
After completing the two deals of £10,000 and £25,000 however, Thakor did not invest the money as promised and the victim never saw the money again despite asking several times for it.
Eventually the victim complained to the police after seeing an email promoting the success of Thakor’s business.
The court heard he initially blamed estate agents and builders in Cyprus for taking his money, but later admitted to being in significant debt after being hit hard by the financial crisis.
Thakor has since retired and faces a proceeds of crime hearing to uncover what assets he has that may be recoverable to pay the debts owed.
