By Ben Kerrigan And Lucy Caulkett-
A Yorkshire gang of fraudsters from stole more than £5 million from victims they conned to invest money into bogus investment schemes.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Keith Wharton and his son Lee used most of the money to live the high life, as they spent vast amounts on yachts and luxury cars while their fooled investors lost life savings, pensions and ended up living in poverty. The string of fraudulent scams spanned an 8 year period in which the gang knocked several of their victims.
Over 30 investors were involved in the Panama land fraud with a total investment of £2.8m. Prosecutor Andrew Haslam told Leeds Crown Court that nobody even received their investment back. None of it went to buy land in Panama. Instead, Keith and Lee Wharton used it to fund their lavish lifestyles.”
The court heard one victim, a piano teacher from London, invested £230,000 in the scheme and now lives in poverty after losing all the money.
Wharton, a 60 year old crook, was the ring leader of the Yorkshire gang, and Leeds-based solicitor Stephen Pickard to facilitate his fraudulent activity. Pickard “put up a barrier” to stop investors getting their money back.
The court heard Pickard – described by the sentencing judge as Wharton’s ‘right hand man’ – threatened victims with legal action if they continued to try to contact Wharton to get their money back. He was the legal face and voice of the Yorkshire gang, Wharton also led other frauds with help of financial adviser Simon Kippax.
Financial Wing Of Yorkshire Gang
Kippax was the financial wing of the Yorkshire gang, given investors a false sense of security. He introduced retired businessman Michael Massingberd to Wharton in 2009, after promising him 100 per protection on an investment that would guarantee him a 300 per cent return in just 12 weeks.
Mr Massingberd formed the Massingberd Motor Group PLC in 1963. By the time he retired and sold the business in 2005, it included four VW dealerships and one Audi dealership in North Yorkshire.
One of the scams involved Keith Wharton convincing investors to put money in a land scheme based in Panama after claiming to be a commercial property ‘guru’ and a billionaire. This Yorkshire gang went to painful lengths to deceive their victims, but it has now landed them in jail. Lives were wrecked as a result in the evil and self centered fraudulent scheme.
Wharton arranged for potential investors to fly out to the central American country for a seminar entitled ‘Secrets of the Super Rich’. The story is a lesson to investors to be very careful before investing money in potentially dodgy business. Extreme and careful steps should be taken to verify the legitimacy of a business, especially when involving large sums of money.
Jail
“You have left behind a trail of personal and financial ruin while you sunned yourselves on your yachts in Spain or drove Aston Martins, Lamborghinis or Maseratis.”
In one scam Keith Wharton managed to convince people to put money in a land scheme based in Panama after claiming to be a commercial property ‘guru’ and a billionaire.
He arranged for potential investors to fly out to the central American country for a seminar entitled ‘Secrets of the Super Rich’.
Wharton, who was close to bankruptcy when he carried out the offences, told those who invested their money in land through a syndicate that they could double their money within 12 months.