£5 Million Mortgage Fraud Acquittal February 2013

JD Spicer Zeb Solicitors secured an acquittal for their client in an alleged £5 million mortgage fraud case.

The defendant was charged with a conspiracy covering a 12 year period in alleging that he was part of an eight man team building up a property empire of ‘buy-to-let’ properties by obtaining mortgages dishonestly. The trial took place at Bristol Crown Court and lasted six weeks.

The defence, was able to show that in fact the police operation had deliberately closed their eyes to the mortgage market that existed between 1998 and 2008 and had negligently failed to provide vital disclosure which placed the key witnesses’ reliability in serious doubt. The prosecution offered no evidence after the cross-examination of the main witness, an independent financial advisor, who had marshalled most of the applications.