Following an investigation led by the City of London’s police unit, after a number of complaints surfaced from victims, Joseph Emery pled guilty to fraud by false representation, related to 950,000 GBP that he illegally solicited and subsequently swindled from investors.
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The fraudster, aged 32, was imprisoned this week following the plea, after a nearly yearlong investigation following his arrest in February of 2015.
Investment products via EM Trade Capital LTD offering were bogus
Emery duped investors by purporting to offer carbon credit contracts and rare earth metals, while no such investments were made with the monies invested by the fraud victims. Emery has been sentenced to 2.5 years at the Old Bailey, according to the official statement from The City of London Police.
Emery was said to be from Chingford, London, and had set up EM Trade Capital Ltd in Tower 42, located in the City of London, in January 2012. Finance Magnates spoke with people close to the news who explained that additional individuals were associated who worked an operation with 5-6 individuals. The company functioned as a typical boiler room with a number of staff cold-calling potential victims to try and sell them ‘investment opportunities,’ according to the press release.
Boiler-room operation via phone and in-person meetings
The modus operandi of the boiler room was that once interest had been established, the victim was sent a brochure providing further information about the company and carbon credits, which then was followed by further sales calls until a deal had been secured and the money had been transferred.
There are proceedings taking place aimed towards following the paper-trail of the funds that Emery had dispersed after scamming clients, including to his personal bank account and the amounts spent on business expenses and travel, as explained to Finance Magnates by people familiar with the report. The rest of the funds went on a car, expensive holidays and a children’s nursery. Officers found no evidence that any of the victims’ money was actually put into an investment scheme.
Will funds be recovered? Investigations proceeding
One victim, who met Joseph Emery on several occasions, lost more than £150,000 to the fraud whilst another woman was persuaded to invest almost £45,000; money that she never saw again, according to the police press release.
Bank statements collected by investigating officers revealed that almost a million pounds of victims’ money was paid into the company account, £350,000 of which was quickly transferred into Emery’s personal account and a further £250,000 was spent on business expenses.
Detective Inspector Nigel Howard from the City of London Police said: “Emery spent over a year convincing a number of victims that he was responsibly investing their money. Instead he was simply pocketing everything that his company was supposed to be investing purely for his own selfish gain.
