Two men have been convicted for their roles in a £70m boiler room fraud - believed to be the largest ever pursued by a UK authority.
The judgement at Southwark Crown Court yesterday means nine individuals have now been convicted in relation to the operation in total.
This week the 'mastermind' of the scam, Jeffrey Revell-Reade, 49, an Australian national was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud in relation to an investigation that was launched by the Serious Fraud Office in 2007.
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From 2003-2007, a total of around £70m was obtained fraudulently from UK investors under his boiler room fraud scheme.
SFO director David Green said: "Over 1000 UK investors were defrauded by these criminals, who caused substantial financial damage and hardship. The victims were deliberately charmed, lied to and bullied, whatever it took to make them send their money to these criminals. The profits from this fraudulent scheme were used to fund lavish lifestyles featuring numerous overseas properties, wine collections, luxury yachts and private jet hire."
The court heard that Mr Revell-Reade set up the scheme, under which sales entities operating from Madrid sold shares in US-listed companies on a fraudulent basis. Investors in the companies bought shares that had restrictions on their resale for a 12 month period.
The Serious Fraud Office said when the investors came to sell the shares after the expiry of this period, they often found that they were unable to do so as they were worthless, and that the shares were in shell companies or companies that were not operating at all.
Anthony May, 58, who lived in Switzerland and then moved to Spain, was also found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud. Mr Revell-Reade and a third defendant, Robert Manning, 63, from Leeds, was found not guilty of one charge of corruption arising from the conduct of the fraud.
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Related convictions
Six others were sentenced to between three and seven years in custody in May 2013 (reporting restrictions only lifted after yesterday's convictions).
These were:
Daniel Gooding, 39, from Brentwood, Essex- 7 years in custody
Shaun David Rumsey, 33, from Basildon, Essex - 5 years in custody
Philip Morris, 38, from Biddenden, Kent - 5 years in custody
Jon Steven Frank Emery, 36, from Romford, Essex- - 5 years in custody
Ian Hughes, 34, from Hainault, Essex - 4 years in custody
Emma Farmer, 41, from Brentwood, Essex - 3 years in custody
A seventh defendant, Michelle Coleman, 62, from Brentwood, Essex pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering. She was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, to be suspended for two years.