Family of fraudsters jailed for total of 19 years

A family of fraudsters were jailed today for a total of 19 years for masterminding a boiler room fraud that took £27.5 million from up to 1,700 investors.

Tomas Wilmot, the ringleader of the operation, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court, while his sons Kevin and Christopher were given five years imprisonment each.

All three had been convicted of conspiracy to defraud following a long running and detailed investigation by the City of London Police, Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Eurojust.

The Wilmots controlled a syndicate of 16 boiler rooms that sold millions of low value, worthless and sometimes non-existent shares to victims in the UK.

Many of the victims were elderly and, in some cases, suffering from serious illnesses.

The boiler rooms were based predominantly in Spain but the back office, accounts and companies used in the operation were from Malta, Italy, Slovakia, Lithuania, Austria, Andorra, Brazil, Belize, Dubai and a number of Caribbean islands.

The investigation into the trio was prompted by searches conducted in relation to another boiler room investigation in late 2007.

In May 2009, 93 City of London Police and FSA investigators carried out a series of coordinated searches at the home addresses of the suspects in Guildford and Horsham, and at their office in Bramley, Surrey.

During the raids 48 digital items (such as computer hard drives and other storage devices) were seized along with 67,000 documents.

The Wilmots were charged in June 2009 and went to trial in May 2011. By the time the case reached the courts investigators had produced 21,000 documents in evidence and 350 witness statements - 85 of whom were victims of the boiler rooms.

Detective Superintendent Bob Wishart, from City of London Police, said:

"The Wilmots were the architects of a major network of criminality that ruthlessly targeted some of the most vulnerable people in our society, stealing their savings and ruining their lives. Thanks to this multi-agency investigation their international boiler room fraud has been dismantled and they are now facing several years behind bars.

"The evolving nature of fraud sees British criminals increasingly trying to hide their operations in foreign countries and siphon off their profits using a myriad of global bank accounts. To counter this threat and ensure all fraudsters can be traced demands national and international collaboration between an expanding circle of organisations from different sectors, an approach to which both the City of London Police and the FSA are 100% committed."

Tracey McDermott, the FSA’s acting director of enforcement, said:

“This was a highly sophisticated scam that made use of offshore structures to launder the funds, put distance between the Wilmots and the boiler rooms, and ultimately disguise the nature of the business. That meant that what started out as a UK-based FSA investigation had to evolve into a joint, then global, operation to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“The individuals convicted today sought to cloak their activities within an aura of respectability to deceive investors, many of whom were vulnerable or elderly. They are, however, nothing more than cold-hearted criminals who profited from stealing other people's money.

You can find out more about boiler rooms, and how to avoid falling victim to them, here.