Criminal gang jailed for multimillion pound mortgage fraud

Criminal gang jailed for multimillion pound mortgage fraud




.

Five members of a Kent-based criminal gang have been given jail sentences for a mortgage fraud worth millions of pounds.

In a hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Anthonia Akinyele, 35, and Isaac Matthews, 42, both of Wittisham Close, Chatham, alongside David Hunter, 35, and Jason Mercer, 37, both of Hemel Hempstead and Ruth Ayinde-Azeez, 26, of Barnet, were each convicted of money laundering offences.

All admitted offences as well as conspiracy to defraud charges at earlier hearings, except for the former care worker, Ayinde-Azeez, who denied all charges but was found guilty and sentenced to four years.

The court heard how the gang maintained luxurious lifestyles that included Ayinde-Azeez having no fewer than 13 flat screen TVs, a state of the art entertainment system, a gym and a sauna in her £2.1 million five-bedroom house in Hertfordshire.

To fund their decadent lifestyles, that included international travel and stays in five star hotels, the gang targeted properties across the UK using brokerage business, M Solutions and Financial Ltd, in which Ayinde-Azeez owned a 20 per cent share.

On receiving the applications, the brokerage firm would then pass them on to a solicitor’s firm where, once approved, the money would be sent to the solicitor’s client account as well as two other accounts controlled by Akinyele and Matthews.

The fraudulent businesses that hosted the accounts, Isaac and Isaacs and Zikkito, have now been dissolved but were the conduits for more than £6 million over a time span of just six weeks.

Det Con Terry Lambert said: “This was a meticulously planned fraud with involvement from a number of different criminals using seemingly legitimate businesses to launder huge amounts of money in a very short space of time.

“We will now be looking to confiscate any assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act from those convicted.”

Receiving shorter jail sentences than the others, Mercer and Hunter were described as ‘puppets’ in the fraud. Their involvement included them allowing the others to use their details on the mortgage applications, they would then pay off the loans for a short time before cancelling the repayments altogether.

Another woman and three men have already been jailed for a total of 19 years for their involvement, and police are still looking for Ruth Ayinde-Azeez’s husband, Victor Ayinde-Azeez, who is thought to be in Nigeria.

All together the five gang members were given 20 years, with Matthews receiving the largest sentence of six years. He admitted conspiring to commit money laundering and transferring money out of the UK.

Anthonia Akinyele admitted her part in the £6 million scam and was jailed for four years.

Ruth Ayinde-Azeez was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to acquire, use or have criminal property, and one count of removing criminal property, and also got four years.

Hunter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and received three years and nine months.

Mercer received the most lenient of sentences and was given one year and nine months after admitting money laundering.

Leave a comment