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£80m buy-toilet fraud
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baby_boomer
Posts: 3,883 Forumite
Times
"Five buy-to-let con artists have pleaded guilty to defrauding property investors out of an estimated £80 million in a Ponzi-style scheme. The former directors of three Gateshead-based property companies used their victims’ money to fund a lavish lifestyle in a scam that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) described as “simply staggering”.
The five spent £500,000 on a fleet of luxury cars, including Aston Martins, Bentleys and a 1960s Mark II Jaguar - known as the “Inspector Morse Car”. A further £250,000 was spent on racehorses, £300,000 on arts and antiques and £200,000 on luxury clothing. In one example of excessive company spending that the SFO described as “completely disproportionate” to the size of their business, the directors hosted a £500,000 Christmas party for 100 staff, where a £100,000 villa in Spain was given away in a prize draw.
Between 2001 and 2003, John Potts, Peter Gosling, Natalie Laverick, Peter Graham and Eric Armstrong sold about 4,000 residential properties, mostly in the North East, to 1,750 investors through their companies PPP Ltd, Practical Property Portfolios Ltd and Napeer Holdings Ltd, referred to together as PPP. The majority of investors were individuals who entrusted their life savings to the scheme, although the SFO said that a number of larger organisations were also taken in......."
And this was while property prices were soaring.
What is going to emerge on the way down? :eek:
"Five buy-to-let con artists have pleaded guilty to defrauding property investors out of an estimated £80 million in a Ponzi-style scheme. The former directors of three Gateshead-based property companies used their victims’ money to fund a lavish lifestyle in a scam that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) described as “simply staggering”.
The five spent £500,000 on a fleet of luxury cars, including Aston Martins, Bentleys and a 1960s Mark II Jaguar - known as the “Inspector Morse Car”. A further £250,000 was spent on racehorses, £300,000 on arts and antiques and £200,000 on luxury clothing. In one example of excessive company spending that the SFO described as “completely disproportionate” to the size of their business, the directors hosted a £500,000 Christmas party for 100 staff, where a £100,000 villa in Spain was given away in a prize draw.
Between 2001 and 2003, John Potts, Peter Gosling, Natalie Laverick, Peter Graham and Eric Armstrong sold about 4,000 residential properties, mostly in the North East, to 1,750 investors through their companies PPP Ltd, Practical Property Portfolios Ltd and Napeer Holdings Ltd, referred to together as PPP. The majority of investors were individuals who entrusted their life savings to the scheme, although the SFO said that a number of larger organisations were also taken in......."
And this was while property prices were soaring.
What is going to emerge on the way down? :eek:
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Comments
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Oh heck. PPP raises its ugly head again. I know of someone who was about to buy 3 of their properties. He posted on a forum for advice. Got a pm to say that they appeared dodgy and not to go there. Saved him a fair old amount of cash.0
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This is one of many cases coming up in the near future - look out for the Thamesmead one in February/March its only taken 2 years to get to court!0
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buy to let is a very murky business, there's little doubt about that.0
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i just love the word ponzi:beer: Well aint funny how its the little things in life that mean the most? Not where you live, the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes.
Theres no dollar sign on piece of mind
This Ive come to know...
So if you agree have a drink with me, raise your glasses for a toast :beer:0 -
i just love the word ponzi
Well get over to hpc then its in every other thread......no postHi, we’ve had to remove your signature. The one where you showed us Dithering Dad is a complete liar. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE Forum Team0 -
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Never-ending stories like this make me cry on the inside. There's no let up now. And this is just the start. We've still got a lot more unravelling, bankrupting and suing to go!
10-20 years for most of this to play out to the end. It doesn't stop at one court case and one newspaper article. This then sends out ripples across lives, towns, regions and the country. Then the world.0 -
PasturesNew wrote: »Never-ending stories like this make me cry on the inside. There's no let up now. And this is just the start. We've still got a lot more unravelling, bankrupting and suing to go!
10-20 years for most of this to play out to the end. It doesn't stop at one court case and one newspaper article. This then sends out ripples across lives, towns, regions and the country. Then the world.
I'm just getting scared of what lies at the end of this journey...Fokking Fokk!0 -
A clean slate?
A lesson learned?
Always better to look on the bright side....
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PasturesNew wrote: »Never-ending stories like this make me cry on the inside. There's no let up now. And this is just the start. We've still got a lot more unravelling, bankrupting and suing to go!
10-20 years for most of this to play out to the end. It doesn't stop at one court case and one newspaper article. This then sends out ripples across lives, towns, regions and the country. Then the world.
10-20 years? what are you on? This happened in the 70's, in the early 90's and now, it will happen again about 3-5 more times this century. All I can say is I hope you don't have to get through a world war like the last two (I wasn't around either for those but I bet it tested people a damn sight more than this recession, although these days we might be spared all that by a huge nuclear explosion)
It's not the end of the world it's a (expected) correction as part of an economic cycle0
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