Three men have been sentenced to a total of 19 years in jail at Southwark Crown Court over a boiler room scam estimated to have defrauded 1,700 investors of £27.5 million.

The trio were jailed following an investigation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), City of London Police (CoLP) and Eurojust.

Ringleader Tomas Wilmot was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, while sons Kevin and Christopher were given five years imprisonment each.

The sentences were handed down following convictions on four offences of conspiracy to defraud, which resulted in losses of £14 million.

According to the FSA, the three men controlled a syndicate of boiler rooms that defrauded an estimated 1,700 investors of £27.5 million.

Many of the victims were said to be elderly and, in some cases, suffering from serious illnesses.

Judge Anthony Leonard, said, 'You ran a highly successful enterprise. You deprived many individual investors of substantial amounts of money; for some that was money they could not afford to give up. It was a staggering amount of £14 million.'

He added, 'You’ve sailed so close to the wind in your commercial enterprises it was not a surprise the FSA investigated you.'

Another boiler room investigation implicated the Wilmots in 2007, before a formal investigation began in 2008.

The investigation uncovered 16 different boiler rooms had sold shares to 1,700 different UK victims between 2003 and 2008, with £27.5 million paid into five UK bank accounts.

Approximately £14 million was also transferred out of the five UK accounts to offshore banks in Malta, Lithuania and Spain.

Tracey McDermott, acting director of enforcement at the FSA, said, 'This was a highly sophisticated scam that made use of offshore structures to launder the funds, put distance between the Wilmots and the boiler rooms, and  ultimately disguise the nature of the business.

'That meant that what started out as a UK-based FSA investigation had to evolve into a joint, then global, operation to bring the perpetrators to justice.'

She added, 'The individuals convicted today sought to cloak their activities within an aura of respectability to deceive investors, many of whom were vulnerable or elderly.

'They are, however, nothing more than cold-hearted criminals who profited from stealing other people's money.'

The FSA recommends investors who are contacted 'out of the blue' by someone selling shares should hang up, check the FSA register and call the company back to verify its identity.

Any company that cold calls to buy or sell shares should be reported to the FSA. Those who believe they have been contacted by a boiler room should contact the FSA’s consumer helpline on: 0845 606 1234.

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