The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed the imprisonment of a convicted fraudster who duped investors out of £72.5m ($91.6m, €85.1m) with false claims of supplying services to the London Olympic Village.
At the City of London Magistrates’ Court on 27 May 2022, Michael Strubel was sent to prison for six years and seven months for failing to pay his confiscation order.
Strubel, along with co-conspirators Jolan Saunders and Spencer Steinberg, convinced victims to invest in Saunders Electrical Wholesale Ltd by lying about supply contracts to supply the Olympic Village for the London 2012 Olympics.
They used the Ponzi-style scheme to buy themselves luxury cars, motorbikes and expensive property, the SFO added.
In 2016, Strubel was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
The SFO later uncovered that he “had also hidden his fraudulently obtained assets in loans and investments, including £255,500 that investigators found he had invested in wine”.
In 2019, the court ordered Strubel to repay around £2.1m, over £1.4m of which remains outstanding.
Message for others
District judge Louisa Ciecióra said Strubel’s continued failure to pay the order “looks an awful lot like at best culpable negligence but at worst wilful refusal”.
Accounting for the payments already made toward the order, Strubel was sent to prison for a total of 2,420 days, approximately six years and seven months.
Strubel’s latest sentence will be in addition to the original seven-year sentence.
Emma Luxton, head of proceeds of crime and international assistance at the SFO, said: “We won’t let fraudsters refuse to make amends for their crimes. The SFO has relentlessly pursued the recovery of criminal funds from Mr Strubel since his conviction in 2016.
“Today’s outcome sends a message to others who are found guilty of fraud that they will be held accountable for their crimes.”
