A father and two sons were jailed for a total of 19 years on Monday for a UK-based share-selling scam which spanned 10 countries and defrauded 1,700 investors of 27.5 million pounds ($45.2 million). Ringleader Tomas Wilmot was sentenced by Southwark Crown Court in London to nine years in prison while his sons Kevin and Christopher were each given a five-year sentence.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which probed the scam with help from Malta, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Ireland, Spain, Lithuania, Iceland, Cyprus and Slovakia, said the sentences signalled another victory against boiler room fraud. "This outcome reflects not only our continuing close and productive working relationship with other UK bodies but also shows the FSA working with European authorities ... to go the extra miles to ensure perpetrators of these crimes can be brought to justice," Tracey McDermott, the FSA's acting director of enforcement, said.
The case comes after the FSA in June secured its first criminal conviction for boiler room fraud. Both cases are part of the watchdog's broader "credible deterrence" policy to show it has teeth. Boiler room fraud often relies on cold-calling people and uses high pressure sales techniques to sell overpriced, illiquid or non-existent shares.
The FSA said the Wilmots controlled a syndicate of 16 boiler rooms and many of their victims were elderly and in some cases suffering from serious illnesses. Kevin Wilmot oversaw the day-to-day mechanics of running the boiler rooms, while Christopher Wilmot lent the scams credibility through a Slovak IT company, Page Conception, that he controlled, the FSA said. Page Conception hosted websites for the frauds and expert analysis showed Christopher Wilmot forged signatures on share transfer forms, the FSA added.
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