share-selling was undertaken by salesmen working from Marbella and Barcelona, although many of them used false names and claimed to be calling from offices in Frankfurt, Stockholm or Amsterdam. The SFO said the business prospects of the company were inflated by WBR’s directors and salesmen. WBR eventually went into adminstration in 2007 following a petition by creditors. It is now officially in liquidation. Of the £8.2m attracted from investors, about £4m ended up in off-shore accounts in Cyprus, Jersey and Spain, the SFO said. It began its investigation after complaints from people who bought shares. WBR was later included on a warning list published by the Financial Services Authority. SFO director Richard Alderman said: “Boiler room fraudsters prey on vulnerable people, they also deprive genuine businesses of the capital they need to grow. Quite bluntly, they ruin lives. I am delighted that the SFO is playing its part in bringing down operations like these and bringing fraudsters to book
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