{"id":161085,"date":"2025-03-28T05:18:23","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T05:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/investing\/fraudsters-jailed-for-duping-wine-investors-out-of-nearly-1m\/"},"modified":"2025-03-28T05:18:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T05:18:23","slug":"fraudsters-jailed-for-duping-wine-investors-out-of-nearly-1m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161085","title":{"rendered":"fraudsters jailed for duping wine investors out of nearly \u00a31m"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\u00a0Home page of Mayfair Worldwide Trading Ltd<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\u00a0Mayfair Worldwide Trading Limited
\u2013 ‘Trusted Worldwide’ !!!!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

\nChristopher Brummitt<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\ncurrently on the run\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n
\nPress release: 5th April 2019<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n
<\/span><\/span>
\n‘A group of fraudsters were jailed for a combined 17 years and 9
\nmonths today for their part in an elaborate wine investment scam which
\nconned nearly \u00a31m out of investors, many of whom were elderly and
\nvulnerable.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Adam Edwards, Barry Warner, Christopher Brummit, Tarik
\n Drissi and James Brooks were today sentenced at Southwark Crown Court
\nfor their actions between 2013 and 2015.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The five men operated
\nthree fake companies – Mayfair Worldwide Trading Ltd, Commodex Global
\nLimited and Winchester Associates Ltd. These companies claimed to be
\nestablished fine-wine brokers based in prime locations such as Berkeley
\nSquare, Mayfair but were in fact based in industrial estate units on the
\n outskirts of Great Dunmow in Essex.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The gang cold-called
\nfine-wine investors from a \u2018sucker list\u2019, and through a series of
\naggressive sales tactics, managed to defraud a number of wine holdings
\nfrom vulnerable victims. Once these had been obtained, they would be
\nsold on to legitimate buyers, with the proceeds pocketed by the
\nfraudsters.<\/span><\/span>
Victims were then told a series of elaborate lies
\nabout the whereabouts of their money. Some were told that their wine had
\n been reinvested into graphene, diamonds or gold.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sian Mitchell from the CPS Specialist Fraud Division said:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an unscrupulous gang who would go to great lengths to
\ndefraud elderly and vulnerable people out of their very valuable wines,
\nmany of which represented their savings for their retirement. One of the
\n victims was a disabled man who, as a result of not receiving payment,
\nwas unable to buy a new wheelchair.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey went to great lengths to
\n legitimise their fraudulent activities – Mayfair Worldwide Trading
\nissued a bogus press release claiming that the company had won the \u20182014
\n ID Times Trading Award for Best Asset Exchange Programme and the
\nInternship Europe Excellence Award.\u2019 Obviously, no such awards existed,
\nand were designed to dupe innocent investors.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to
\n have secured custodial sentences for this group, and will continue to
\nprosecute those who think they can benefit from fraud.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow the wine fraud operated<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0
\n \u00a0Victim A is cold called by \u2018David Barrington\u2019 from Mayfair World
\nTrading. Having in reality spoken to the defendant Adam Edwards, Victim A
\n agrees to sell his wines to Mayfair Worldwide Trading (MWT) for \u00a338,228
\n in a \u2018graphene asset swap\u2019, on the understanding graphene will be sold
\nand the sum paid to him in 28 days
2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The victim instructed LCB Bonded Warehouse to transfer wines to the account of MWT at EHD Bonded Warehouse
3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A legitimate buyer, Vintners Fine Wine Merchants Ltd, agree to buy
\n the wine for \u00a327,470 and instructs EHD to transfer wines to them
4.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Vintners Ltd transfers payment of \u00a330,970 for these wines (and
\n\u00a33,500 worth of other wine) to the bank account of MWT – none is paid to
\n the victim.<\/span><\/span>
\n5.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Having spoken to another employee
\nwith an assumed name \u2018Peter Phillips\u2019 and told there is a problem with
\nthe graphene market, Victim A is now told his wines will now be
\nconverted to diamonds and sold
6.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Having received no money and struggling to contact MWT, Victim A contacts the police to report the fraud<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Sentences<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n