Two directors of a property investment firm have appeared in court after they were alleged to have masterminded a multi-million pound mortgage fraud, the Worksop Guardian reports.

Ian Shakespeare, 53, and Charles Frisby, 68, are accused of defrauding investors during their tenure as directors of a property investment firm based in Leeds, Zoemack Limited.

The pair denied trading with intent to defraud creditors of the company as they appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court this week.

The title goes on to report that Shakespeare’s charges relate from a period between June 2002 and November 2008, while Frisby’s are dated between January 2002 and April 2006.

The Retford Trader & Guardian previously reported that the pair allegedly misled investors regarding a property investment opportunity, misdirecting up to £7 million of invested capital.

More than 90 private investors were said to have lost money through the fraudulent scheme, which is now believed to have been enacted from Zoemack’s offices in Barlborough, near Sheffield.

A National Insolvency Service undertaking against the firm names Ian David Shakespeare and David Henry Hall as directors at the firm and records that both had been banned from directorship for five years and six-and-a-half years respectively.

The document also notes that the Zoemack was concerned with the “renting and operating of housing association real estate” and had entered into administrative receivership with an outstanding deficiency of £10.8 million still unaccounted for.

Frisby, moreover, was jailed in December 2009 for playing a part in a similar scheme.

The SFO previously reported that the fraudster ran an investment scam, through which 56 British expats lost nearly £2 million, along with four other men.

Operating under the name Prudential Commercial Investments, the group targeted investors through IFAs, telling them that their funds would be channelled into a lending scheme for commercial property buyers in the UK that were secured by mortgages, netting them a large return on their capital.

Those who pledged support were guaranteed a 15 per cent return on their initial outlay annually, however, the fraudsters diverted investors’ funds into offshore accounts for their own personal gain.

Frisby had helped to set up the sham company while based in Yorkshire, drafting its business documents and marketing literature.

He was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

The pair will now appear at Derby Crown Court on 31st May, though it is possible that the trial will be transferred to Southwark Crown Court in London.

Unconditional bail was granted to both men.