FSA wins first criminal conviction against a boiler room fraudster
The FSA has won its first criminal conviction for boiler room fraud.
David Roger Griffiths Mason has been sentenced to two years in prison and disqualified from being a director for six years after pleading guilty to a string of charges.
In a far-reaching scam lasting six months, Mason coordinated the sale of shares in a company he promised investors was soon to list on the PLUS market.
Victims were cold called and offered shares in a firm called EduVest by unauthorised overseas firms such as Hunter Rowe Financial, Bernam and Shore and Attlee Wurth Consulting Group.
Mason raked in £270,000 through the boiler room operation, which he then laundered. Some funds were directed to the boiler rooms via accounts in Switzerland and the Seychelles. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts related to the scam.
A second man, David Sinclair of Axiom Capital, was fined £68,000 for unwittingly allowing Mason to use a bank account under his control to dissipate investor money.
Tracey McDermott, acting director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, said: “This sentence sends a clear message that the court takes boiler room offences seriously.”