Tassib Hussain, an accountant who managed Keystone Chartered Accountants in Nottingham and Larry Barreto, owner of unauthorised financial services firm Barreto and Partners have both been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
The charges have been brought against them following an investigation relating to mortgage applications worth £3.8m, carried out between January 2015 and March 2018.
It is alleged the applicants were clients of Barreto and where they did not have sufficient income for a mortgage, he charged them a fee which was paid in cash to Hussain.
Hussain would then create false self-employment and employment documents, improving the applicants’ affordability and making them eligible for the required mortgages.
Barreto has also been charged with two counts of carrying out regulated activities without authorisation.
This relates to advice given and arrangements made for regulated mortgage contracts between June 2014 and March 2018.
Barreto and Hussain appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 21 April. The case was sent to Southwark Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on 19 May 2021.
Fraud is punishable by up to 10 years in prison while unauthorised business is punishable by a fine up to two years in prison.
