Two men have been imprisoned for defrauding multiple elderly victims out of £2,469,620.48 in a boiler room investment fraud.
David Shivmangal, 48, and Glenn Ward, 52, were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court on 15 December 2021 of fraud and money laundering offences. They were sentenced today to three years and nine months and three years respectively.
The defendants were part of an organised criminal group which has been sentenced after a series of four separate trials, involving two separate frauds.
One arose from the Capitol Finance Group which sold investments in a non-existent scheme to lend money to payday loan companies.
The other involved the fraudulent selling of diamonds as investments which were worth only a fraction of their sale price.
Both frauds were organised by the same individuals and operated from the same offices in Birmingham and London.
Shivmangal and Ward were directly involved in the diamond fraud. Elderly victims were targeted using high-pressure sales techniques.
They were cold-called and pressured into investing in diamonds, with promises of high rates of return.
In fact, the fraudsters had purchased the diamonds cheaply and then sold them to the investors at highly inflated prices.
The fraudsters additionally offered safe storage of the diamonds which allowed them to re-sell diamonds to different victim investors. Shivmangal and Ward controlled the account through which much of the fraudulent profits moved.
The CPS reviewed the case and…
