Three men have been jailed for their roles in a scam that claimed to offer the opportunity for people to invest in baskets of valuable elements – known as ‘rare earths’.
The fraudsters charged between seven and 200 times the value of the metal and asked their victims to pay some of their investments into accounts owned by the trio.
They were named as Ike Obiamiwe (56), Daniel Jordan (36) and Tarun Jain (50).
They stole more than £1m ($1.23m, €1.13m) from an unspecified number of victims, as part of a fraud that has already seen seven others before the court.
Dubai link?
Obiamiwe told Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) investigators that he was a consultant who gave advice to businesses.
He said the money in his bank account had come from a trading company in Dubai.
But the CPS was able to prove that the £87,000 in his account was part of the proceeds of the fraud.
Jain also denied his involvement, unsuccessfully insisting the money had been put into an old business account.
Further investigation found that Jordan has syphoned £80,000 through his accounts.
Senior crown prosecutor Libby Clark said: “These men tried to hide what they were doing through lies or multiple bank accounts, covering the fact they were actually laundering money that had been gained through an elaborate fraud.”
Jail time
They were collectively sentenced to five years in prison for three counts of money laundering on 27 September.
Obiamiwe received two years and six months, while Jain was handed a two-year and six-month jail term.
Jordan was given a 12-month suspended sentence.
They join others already convicted of fraud.
On 6 September 2018, Stephen Todd pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
Two months later, six others were found guilty of the same charge.
They are Mark Whitehead, Darren Flood, Jonathan Docker, Paul Muldoon, Gennaro Fiorentino and Vikki King.
Fiorentino has been issued with a £130,614.80 confiscation order and has three months to pay or he will face an additional two years in prison.
Flood has been handed a £190,000 confiscation order and has until 4 January 2020 to pay or he will face an extra two years in prison.
Whitehead has been issued with a £50,000 confiscation order and has three months to pay this or he will face an extra year in prison.
Muldoon has been issued with a nominal £10 confiscation order.
