Wine fraudsters stole £6m from confused pensioners

Victims were overcharged - sometimes by 400% - to invest in wine, trading standards said

Three men who stole at least £6m from 41 victims using a fraudulent wine investment scheme have been convicted.

Benjamin Cazaly, 42, Gregory Assemakis, 39, both from Kent, alongside Dominic D'Sa, 45, from London, were found guilty of fraudulent trading on Tuesday at St Albans Crown Court.

An investigation by Hertfordshire Trading Standards found £37m passed through Imperial Wine & Spirits Merchants' accounts during the 10 years it was trading.

It said the long-running scam saw pensioners convinced to give their life savings to wine investments but were overcharged, sometimes by over 400%.

Investors were told the company did not make money unless the wine was sold at a profit.

The company had the mantra "no means yes" written on the wall

The company was founded by Cazaly in 2008 under the name Imperial Wines of London.

It claimed to be a family-run investment house with international offices in Paris and Hong Kong.

In reality, it was a call centre in an office building in Groveland Court, London, which was raided by trading standards in November 2018.

The mantra "no means yes" was written on the wall, and they used films such as The Wolf of Wall Street to learn manipulation tricks.

Cold callers using fake names followed scripts to persuade pensioners to hand over their money; these were found when the office was raided.

Victims were sent glossy brochures that used logos from the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times without permission.

Hertfordshire Council said the jury was played a recording where a confused woman was asked for payment card details despite not knowing what a card was or who she banked with.

Trish Burls from National Trading Standards said: "Victims in this case lost thousands of pounds through a co-ordinated scam of lies, deceit and manipulation.

"The criminals exploited people's passion and enthusiasm, preying on them to invest while stripping many of their life savings and causing significant emotional distress.

Ajanta Hilton, executive member for community safety at Hertfordshire County Council, added: "The stories of those targeted with this investment scam are devastating.

"I'd like to thank them for their bravery in telling their stories so that these callous criminals could be brought to justice."