Latest News > 23 July 10 - Two jailed for £7m boiler room scam

 

Two men running a boiler room fraud that conned gullible investors out of £7m have been jailed for seven years at Ipswich Crown Court.



David Vidgeon and Rahul Patel, both UK nationals, operated the high pressure, share-pushing operation from call centres in Spain between April 2003 and November 2006.



They persuaded around 1,250 investors in the UK to buy shares in worthless companies by making false claims about their future potential.



A judge found them guilty of conspiracy to defraud, though three other defendants, Baldur Sigurdsson, Roland Pibworth and Craig Clark were acquitted.



Vidgeon's cold-calling and hard-sell tactics netted his own boiler room £2.3m, almost half of which he kept for himself. Patel got over £960,000.



"A boiler room is a predatory and orchestrated 'attack' on private investors so it's very satisfying to see justice delivered for such callous dishonesty, said Richard Alderman, director at the Serious Fraud Office.



I hope that publicity of today's outcome will serve as a warning for people to think twice when hard-sell investment offers, usually unsolicited, appear tempting. No is the right answer".


 

 

 

 

 

 

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