Two masterminds behind what is believed to be Britain’s largest boiler room share scam were jailed for conning thousands of investors out of £70 million.
Australian Jeffrey Revell-Reade, 49, was sentenced to eight years six months and Anthony May, 58, to just over seven years behind bars.
They were convicted by a jury after pleading not guilty to a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud in a London court.
Sentencing them, Judge Michael Gledhill said fraud was not a victimless crime, but in this case more than 1,000 people had lost money – in some cases their life savings of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A boiler room scam involves a gang of fraudsters selling worthless shares at sky-high prices on the premise they have insider information that will send the value soaring at some point in the near future.
High pressure sales tactics
Revell-Read and May ran a team of salesmen in Spain targeting pensioners in the UK with high-pressure sales tricks to encourage them to buy the worthless shares in fake or non-trading American companies.
Their tricks included discounts, a time limit on the deal and bullying vulnerable people with threats and intimidation with repeated, lengthy phone calls.
The judge told Revell-Read that he was clearly shown to be the controller of the operation, with May working as his right-hand man.
Six other fraudsters involved at a lower-level with the gang had already been before the courts and convicted.
The three month trial was the culmination of a seven-year inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office, with help from detectives in Hong Kong, Switzerland and Australia.
Money spent on lavish lifestyles
Revell-Reade took 35% of the profits, worth several million pounds, and spent the money on a lavish lifestyle that included buying homes in London, Austria, Spain and Australia.
He also lived in luxury while his victims were left penniless.
The court was told how he chartered private boats and planes, invested in fine wines, expensive cars and two paintings that cost £73,000 from entertainer Rolf Harris.
Meanwhile, the largest investor in the scam lost more than £600,000
“This case shows that the Serious Fraud Office does not give up on cases and is prepared to follow lines of inquiry for years. We have the determination and persistence to track complicated flows of money and sophisticated corporate structures across many different countries,” said Serious Fraud Office head David Green.
