x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.
STAY CONNECTED!
    
newsletter-button

Conman caught money laundering in house purchase

20 August 2010
Written by rosalind renshaw

A conman has been jailed for 11 years after wordwide property and finance scams worth an estimated £23m.

Eric Fitzpatrick Danison, 51, also known as Patrick Danson, was caught when he tried to launder £1.5m through the purchase of an eight-bedroom country house, Passenham Manor, in Northamptonshire.

Posing as a businessman with a phoney financial services company called Amkel Capital in Canary Wharf, he had convinced his victims he could give them access to credit worth millions of pounds for an advance fee.

Instead, he stole their money and diverted it into Swiss bank accounts.

He also ran a series of fake property and investment firms, defrauding people across the UK and US. One Harrogate man was tricked into parting with £60,000.

The police investigation found that one victim had been forced to sell his house to cover his losses.

At Birmingham Crown Court, Danison pleaded guilty to numerous accounts of fraud. As well as the 11-year sentence, he was disqualified from being a company director for 15 years and given a Serious Crime Prevention Order for 15 years, which will restrict the business activity he can carry out once out of prison.

A police spokesman said: “Danison is a conman who operated on a truly international scale.”

Comments

  • icon

    He was always going to get caught eventually, can't believe there are people out there that would do this kind of thing.

    • 21 August 2010 16:13 PM
  • icon

    Isn't this what RBS and the rest of the leaches that drain this country dry of resources should be charged with? I see no difference to what this budding entrepreneur has done and what the so called "retail" banking industry has done to this country

    • 20 August 2010 12:50 PM
  • icon

    I agree with Timothy, it seems quite wrong to gather this info from clients which exposes them to greater risk of ID fraud. Its done again by the solicitor, again by the mortgage broker .... a mass of info stored out there to help crooks clone the ID of innocent people. But the crooks ... I think the going rate down Sarf End boozers is about £50 for a driving licence and any kid with photoshop can knock out a perfect utility bill, so we agents could easily be conned in this regard. And anyway, shouldn't we be more concerned at the buyers than our sellers?

    • 20 August 2010 12:07 PM
  • icon

    huudi elbow: Tell me - which industry are YOU a disgrace to...?

    • 20 August 2010 10:31 AM
  • icon

    What would be more interesting would be finding a "vendor" who tried to launder money by "selling" a house. Having to garner money laundering info about house "sellers" is a complete pain and totally pointless as far as |I can tell, whilst we are not required to undertake any money laundering enquiries about "buyers". Topsey-turvey world in my view.

    • 20 August 2010 10:13 AM
  • icon

    I set up my buisness to be honest and transparent and as the company grows i want to be accessible for all my clients and suppliers at all times with my personal mobile number so that i am aware of any issues. Honesty and Transparency is our key. It wont make us rich overnight but it will be worth it and hope it will change the need for people to want to invest with conmen or get rich quick schemes.

    • 20 August 2010 10:00 AM
  • icon

    Dishonesty in the industry? what is the world comming to?
    Lets face it, fools and their money will be parted by somebody. A more newsworthy item would be an honest agent, now that would be a rarity.

    • 20 August 2010 08:45 AM
Breaking News
MovePal MovePal MovePal