Anthony James, of Gowerton in Wales, placed the deposit for the couple, Carl and Donna Honey-Jones, using £20,000 cash in a carrier bag through the name of Donna Honey-Jones’ uncle, William Harding, Wales Online reports.
Harding, who serviced the mortgage using money funnelled to him from the Honey-Joneses, has previously been found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud and of converting criminal property.
The couple have a history of making more than £1m from dealing cocaine, for which Carl Honey-Jones is currently serving a nine-year sentence in addition to money laundering. His wife was given a 21-month jail sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
The two used the cash made from peddling cocaine to fund a lifestyle which saw them spend £40,000 on their wedding and luxury cars and holiday in Dubai, the Maldives, Florida and Mexico.
Financial adviser James was sentenced to 15 months for the fraud, while Harding was given a suspended prison sentence of 12 months and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
In the second fraud, James pleaded guilty to defrauding a couple out of £117,000 in a separate mortgage scam for which he was jailed for 45 months.
The couple, which were long-term clients of James, were approached by the adviser in 2014 regarding an investment opportunity which would require them to remortgage their property and buy an additional property to rent out.
However, upon transferring £117,000 to James’ bank account, the couple never saw the purchase transpire, with James spending the money for himself.
To keep up the act, James paid regular ‘rent’ to the couple supposedly from their tenant, but when police were alerted and a placed a restraint order on his account, £64,000 of the couple’s money had already been spent.
When he was arrested, James told the police he had been gifted the cash from the couple to develop his career.
