A COLINDALE man has been jailed for four years for his role in a money-laundering gang that scammed £4 million from elderly victims to fund a “lavish” lifestyle.

The four fraudsters, including Nicholas Ailey, 32, of Hazel Close, Colindale, used “high pressure” tactics to force victims into buying thousands of pounds worth of shares in fake companies.

The scam was run from the bedroom of a house in Watford, but had connections across the UK, Spain and Italy, it was claimed.

The men posed as salesman for a company based outside the UK to promote the shares of another company, which were either worthless, or of little value.

By claiming they were working for DG Advisory, based in Barcelona, Spain, the men sold shares in NetJet Ltd, a company operating in Hertfordshire.

They would call potential investors from across the UK up to four times a week.

The victims were then told the money spent on NetJet Ltd shares would be invested in Payweb, a legitimate secure internet electronic money transfer scheme, based in Italy, for which they would receive “an excellent return”.

A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police, who led the three-year long operation codenamed “Wizard”, said: “In reality, DG Advisory and NetJet Ltd were vehicles for fraud, set up purely to make money.

“NetJet Ltd was registered as operating from a prestigious Pall Mall address in London. However, in fact it was operated from a bedroom in Watford.”

Between February 2005 and January 2006 the gang, also including Inaam Ul Haq, 28, of Crawley; Niven Gunaratnam, 31, of Watford, and Frazer Bettie, 33, of Dagnall, promoted shares in NetJet Ltd to 324 investors across the UK, mainly elderly people, to a value of £4 million.

Despite claiming a vast amount of investors’ money would be invested in Payweb, it was only 20 per cent, with 45 per cent of the £4 million paid to the brokers of DG Advisory.

Bettie was the owner of DG Advisory and received £802,000, Ailey was a manager at the company and received around £240,000, and Ul Haq was a salesman who received £97,000.

Gunaratnam, who owned the house from where the scam was run, spent the remainder on living a lavish lifestyle and when arrested was found to have spent £230,000 in cash.

Ailey was found guilty last month at Southwark Crown Court of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to four years.

Last Thursday, Ul Haq was jailed for three-and-half years after pleading guilty to money laundering at an earlier hearing.

Gunaratnam was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to five-and-half years, while Bettie received four-and-half years after being found guilty of money-laundering.

Detective Constable Jim Frost, of Hertfordshire Constabulary’s fraud squad, said: “These deplorable actions were committed by selfish and unscrupulous people, who were determined to live a lavish lifestyle funded by deceit and dishonesty.

"They have caused misery for hundreds of people across the country and have taken away money that these people will never see again.

“Although no physical contact is made with the victims, the effect it has on many of them — especially the elderly — is as if they had been robbed of their handbags or wallets.”

Fraud officers are now working to recover the money for the victims under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002).

Around £1 million is expected to be recovered which means victims would receive around 25 per cent of what they invested.