By Emily Caulkett-
Cindy Brad 52, a former financial advisor, received a 3-year sentence after pleading guilty to 4 counts of fraud by false representation and 2 counts of acting in breach of a disqualification order.
Selvi Civi , 57, also appeared at court and received a 4-month sentence, suspended for 2 years, after pleading guilty to 2 counts of fraud by false representation at Leicestershire Crown Court.
Cindy Brad had previously been jailed for 18 months in 2009 after she was convicted of theft from clients she was advising, and obtaining money by deception. Cindy Brad was also disqualified as a company director for 10 years, but continued to carry out criminal activities.
Brad used three different identities to disguise her criminal past and disqualification status. This allowed her to formally change her name and obtain fresh identity documents.
One of those different identities and supplied false banking documents to secure a £200,000 mortgage before reneging on the repayments.
The convicted fraudster incorporated several companies to enable her to act as a financial adviser, which was in direct breach of her 10-year disqualification order. While acting as an advisor Cindy Brad made a fraudulent £100,000 loan application on behalf of Selvi Civi using false documents.
Cindy Brad also made false representations to the disclosure barring agencies in England and Wales, and Scotland, to secure certificates that would allow her to become an authorised representative of financial services companies.
Despite all her acts of fraud, the top fraudster who was prosecuted by the insolvency service, did not obtain a photograph of her for the press so that members of the public can recognize her and potentially avoid falling for her fraudulent schemes when she comes out of jail.
A spokesperson at the Insolvency Service said they don’t usually keep photographs of people jailed as a result of their prosecution, but admitted this to be a necessary goal for the future to achieve equal treatment among convicted criminals. The press usually have access to the photographs of most criminals.
In some cases, risk assessments conducted by the police deem it necessary not to release photographs of jailed convicts.
A spokesperson for Leicester police explained to The Eye Of Media.Com: ”we can’t just give out photographs of people in every case without the necessary risk assessment and checks and balances. This particular case was not ours, but we can’t even give out her photograph in relation to her previous cases”.
Criminal Aid
Selvi Civi, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, aided Cindy Brad’s criminal activities when she allowed Cindy Brad as a financial advisor to apply for a £100,000 loan on her behalf using false documents.
On passing sentence, the judge said that Cindy Brad had carried out “sophisticated forgery” and that personal difficulties did not justify the fraud carried out.
The judge also disqualified Cindy Brad from being a director for the maximum period of 15 years.
The Insolvency Service intends to recover the proceeds of these crimes.
Glenn Wicks, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:
”Despite having already served time for similar offences, this did not deter Cindy Brad, and the convicted fraudster continued to apply for substantial loans worth thousands of punds, using a variety of false documents and fake identities.
Thanks to the joint work between the Insolvency Service, the police and other government agencies, we were able to uncover Cindy Brad’s duplicitous activities. The courts recognised the severity of her actions and her 3-year sentence should serve as a warning that we will use the full extent of the law to investigate and prosecute fraudsters.