Assets worth £600k seized from mortgage fraudsters

Assets worth £600k seized from mortgage fraudsters

£600,000 worth of assets linked to mortgage fraud and wine have been seized by the National Crime Agency.

After making a civil recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, two flats in Sidcup, Kent as well as the freehold title for the building that housed them was seized by NCA officers.

They were believed to have been purchased by defendant John Evans, his wife, brother and mother using crime proceeds.

In addition, £288,341 was seized from bank accounts belonging to John, his wife and mother.

This was the excess from the sale of a Burnley-based property which had been purchased through mortgage fraud.

The NCA believe that the purchases may also have been funded through money laundering, fraudulent trading and tax evasion.

Two apparent wine investment companies were also involved in one of the frauds – Beaumont Vintners Limited and Fine Wine Vintners Limited. The companies rarely provided the wine despite customers sending it.

The family agreed to hand over the properties as well as the money in response to the NCA’s investigation.

Commenting on the investigation was Stephanie Jeavons. The deputy director of the NCA’s Economic Crime Command said: “This is our latest success in targeting offenders who, despite not being criminally charged, often crumble under the NCA evidence against them.

“We have many more cases under investigation and many more organised crime groups will be handing over their ill-gotten gains which often represent other people’s misery.”

Georgia Owen

Georgia is the Content Executive and will be your primary contact when submitting your latest news. While studying for an LLB at the University of Liverpool, Georgia gained experience working within retail, as well as social media management. She later went on to work for a local newspaper, before starting at Today’s Conveyancer.

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