Lawyers’ clerk stole £1.7m to splash on cars, clothes and a racehorse

By Claire EllicottLast updated at 12:13 AM on 16th August 2010

‘Cunning and guile’: Louise Martini stole £1.7m from solicitors Williamson & Soden

A cashier at a firm of solicitors stole £1.7million over seven years to finance a ‘lavish’ lifestyle for herself and her husband.
Louise Martini, 36, who had worked for the firm since she was 16, bought fine jewellery from Chanel, shares in a racehorse and the lease of a pub in the village which supposedly inspired Ambridge in The Archers.
The cashier, who was earning £24,000 at the time of her arrest, also spent thousands on luxury holidays, designer clothes and stays in country house hotels.
She could now face a four-year jail sentence after admitting theft and money laundering at Gloucester Crown Court.
Martini had been recruited straight from school by Solihull law firm Williamson and Soden, which placed ‘complete trust’ in her and believed her to be ‘capable and competent’, the court heard.
She was responsible for managing petty cash, client bank accounts and expenses, and was given increasing responsibility throughout the 20 years she was in her job.
But behind the scenes, Martini - described as a woman of ‘considerable cunning and guile’ - was forging cheques and stealing money.
Between April 2002 and her dismissal in February last year she spent £11,000 on Chanel jewellery at Selfridges, £9,500 at the designer online store Net-a-Porter and £500 in exclusive shoe shop Jimmy Choo.
She bought five cars, spending £56,000 on a Range Rover Sport V8 and £42,000 on an Audi A5 Quattro Coupe, and paid £3,300 for a trip to Las Vegas.
Martini, who is listed as a director of her former husband’s pub firm Blue Martini Leisure Ltd, bought the Crown Inn in Peopleton, Worcestershire.
She then bought the leasehold of The Bull’s Head pub in Inkberrow, Worcestershire, the village on which some say Ambridge is based.

Martini owned the lease on The Bull’s Head Inn, said to be the inspiration for Ambridge in radio soap opera The Archers

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‘Penniless’ company director claimed £100,000 benefits for villas and yachts abroad

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:49 AM on 7th July 2010

Posing proudly before his own yacht in the harbour of a
Mediterranean resort, John Watkinson appears the epitome of a
successful and affluent businessman. With an offshore account in Jersey and villas in Spain and
Turkey, the company director and his wife enjoyed a millionaire
lifestyle. But for more than a decade Watkinson, 69, pleaded poverty and told officials he had just £20 to his name.

John Watkinson and his wife in front of their yacht in Turkey. He claimed £118,000 in benefits while declaring he had just £20 in the bankOver a 13-year period he claimed almost £120,000 in housing and council tax benefit, income support and pension credits.
Yesterday he was behind bars after being jailed for two years when his benefits scam was uncovered by investigators.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Watkinson pretended he was out of
work and needed benefits to pay for his rented accommodation. But in
reality he had secretly set up a firm in Gibraltar to act as a front
for all his dealings. And three upmarket homes for which he claimed rent were actually wholly-owned by his company, Brooklyn Holdings Ltd.
Over the years Watkinson used this company to buy a series of
top-of-the-range boats and luxury villas in Marbella and Turkey. He
also splashed out on a £42,000 luxury yacht named Phil-A-Me after his
51-year-old wife Philamena.
David McLachlan, prosecuting, told the court that Watkinson fraudulently claimed more than £118,000 in housing
and council tax benefit, income support and pension credits between
April 1995 and August 2008.
During the fraud he claimed he lived in rented homes in the villages
of Heswall, Noctorum, and Oxton in the Wirral, when he actually owned
them all. All the properties were bought and then sold by Brooklyn Holdings Ltd which left him free to pocket the housing benefit.
On one occasion Watkinson’s company sold a property and made a £214,000 profit.

Watkinson was the sole director of the firm which owned three up-market Wirral houses (including this one in Oxton) he lived in over the course of the fraud
Mr McLachlan said Watkinson also pursued two civil claims in
connection with his previous engineering business, securing him
£100,000 in July 1999 and £29,500 in 2001, but did not declare a penny
to the authorities. During the benefits scam Watkinson’s wife also sold her own home, netting an undeclared £115,000.
Mrs Watkinson also earned up to £40,000 a year as a book-keeper but the couple kept this hidden from the authorities by getting her employer to pay her wages directly into Watkinson’s secret company.
By 2001, Watkinson had enough to buy a villa in Estepona, near Marbella, using another front company.
Four years later, records revealed he had enough money to buy two holiday homes in Bodrum, Turkey, for £126,000.
Jailing Watkinson, Judge Charles James said: ‘Your claim for benefits was dishonest from the outset because although you told the authorities you had no money, throughout that period you owned your own home and you were a director of a company.
‘While still claiming benefits, you have owned boats and properties in other countries.’
Watkinson, who uses a hearing aid, swore and staggered against the dock in shock as he was jailed.
Geoffrey Lowe, defending, told the court Watkinson, who admitted 18 counts of fraud, was genuinely out of work when he began to claim benefits.
He insisted Watkinson had bought many of the items with substantial loans and was now in very serious debt.
Two charges against Mrs Watkinson were left to lie on file.

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Porsche-driving family worth £1.5million jailed after claiming £170,000 in benefits

By
Mail Online Reporter
Last updated at 6:45 PM on 30th June 2010

Sinniah Pathnmanathan, pictured outside court yesterday, was one of eight members of his family found guilty of benefit fraud. He received a 12-month suspended sentence because of ill-health
A family of benefit cheats who owned a property portfolio worth £1.5million were today jailed for fraudulently claiming £170,000 in housing allowances.The complex scam involved eight members of the Pathmanathan family, some of who drove Porsche and BMW sports cars.One member of the family would apply for a mortgage, often using false information, and then rent the house to a relative.
The tenant would hide then fact they were related to their supposed
landlord and claim housing benefit on the property, which was funnelled
straight into mortgage repayments.The Pathmanathans even drew up bogus tenancy agreements to try and hide the
fact they were ripping off taxpayers.Four members of the family were jailed yesterday for their part in the fraud.
Three were given suspended sentences and another will be sentenced next
month at Harrow Crown Court.Premkumar Pathmanathan, 46, got 14 months; his brother Sivakumar
Pathmanathan, 43, got 15 months; Nalliah Kowridas, 43, received a
15-month sentence and Shamini Kowridas, 38, was jailed for six months. Premkumar’s wife Kalaivany Premkumar, 40, received a 12-month suspended sentence and was ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work.Elderly Sinniah Pathmanathan, 78, also got a 12-month suspended sentence because of his poor health; while Sittampalam Soundrasritharan received ten months suspended for a year.The case was brought by Harrow and Brent councils in north London where the family owned the five properties involved.Harrow
Council spokesman Graham Henson said today: ‘This was a cynical and
premeditated scam by a family bent on living the high life while honest
taxpayers footed the bill.’We’re are very pleased with the
court’s decision and will now be taking steps to recover the money and
return it to the public purse. ‘In these tough economic
times it’s essential housing benefit goes to those people in real need,
and not to fraudsters driving Porsches and BMWs. ‘I hope the verdict sends a message that if you claim money you are not entitled to, we will catch up with you.’ 
Taxpayer-funded: One of the five houses involved in the Pathmanathan family’s £170,000 scam
Councillor
Muhammed Butt of Brent council added: ‘This was a challenging case
involving many months of diligent investigation work by my
investigators unpicking a complicated web of deceit.’ The scam began in 1993.In
total, three houses had around £50,000 of public money put towards its mortgage. In the past few years a further £11,000 was
gained by the family through two other nearby houses in north London.The
con unravelled when Brent Council got an anonymous tip-off that
Kalaivany Premkumar had an unregistered partner living at her address
in 2006. Over the following two years investigators slowly picked apart
the whole scheme.During sentencing, Judge Graham Arran told
Harrow Crown Court: ‘This case involves properties owned by members of
the Pathmanathan family, all of which were the subject of fraudulent
housing benefit claims in which other members of the family pretended
to be genuine landlords and tenants.’This was done for greed,
and never for need. Every claim was dishonest from the outset, and I
have no doubt the scam involved other fraudulent activity - mortgage
fraud and other benefit fraud.’You all dealt with any problems
as they arose - as soon as the investigation started you got together
to create a false defence.’

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Trio ‘tried to sell the Ritz hotel for bargain price of £250m in ambitious scam’

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By
Beth Hale
Last updated at 1:18 AM on 9th June 2010

The chance to buy The Ritz for a ‘bargain’ £250million sounded too good to be true – and was, a court heard yesterday. But two businessmen were duped into handing over a £1million advance for the world famous hotel in Piccadilly in a transaction that was founded on ‘one great big lie’, the jury was told. It was in fact worth between £450million and £600million at the time and the men offering to sell it were in no position to do so, Anuja Dhir QC, prosecuting, said. ‘The deal that sounded too good to be true was a complete fantasy,’ she added.Conn Farrell (left) and Patrick Doman (right) leave Southwark Crown Court today where they, along with Anthony Lee (below), all deny conspiracy to defraud
She described how solicitor Conn Farrell, retired contracts manager
Patrick Dolan and lorry driver Anthony Lee selected Terence Collins,
who had a Dutch financial backer Marcel Boerkhoorn, as their ‘mark’ for
the scam in 2006.
‘They promised their targets the opportunity to buy The Ritz hotel
and casino in Piccadilly for the bargain price of £250million,’ Miss
Dhir said. ‘They didn’t have the ability or the intention to fulfil
that promise.
‘As the negotiations progressed they sucked their victims in with
more false promises and frustrated them with unnecessary requests until
they managed to extract from them a payment of £1million.’

Accused: The court heard that Anthony Lee claimed to be a close friend of the hotel’s owners
The deal, codenamed Project Notting Hill, was targeted to attract
those dealing in the high stakes of ‘trophy properties’, she said.
‘In that competitive world of secretive multi-million pound deals
some people are prepared to take risks that might seem breathtaking to
most of us,’ she told Southwark Crown Court in London.
‘Millions of pounds can be made and lost on transactions for trophy
properties like The Ritz. What sets this transaction apart from most is
that it was all based on one great big lie. The defendants were never
in a position to be able to sell The Ritz.’
The court heard that Lee claimed to be a ‘close friend and working
associate’ of the billionaire twin brothers Sir Frederick and Sir David
Barclay who own the hotel.
Lee and Dolan pretended they could arrange its sale. Farrell, a
partner with law firm Farrell, Martin & Nee, added a ‘veneer of
legitimacy’ to the scheme, Miss Dhir said.
Mr Collins, of a property and investment company called London
Allied Holdings, was put in touch with Lee through a ‘middle man’,
Karen Maguire, the court was told.
She specialised in finding property for private clients and had been
told by Lee that he had access to a contract to purchase The Ritz for
£200million. He told her he intended to sell it on for £250million, the
court was told. In December-2006, £1million was paid into an
Irish bank in Lee’s name by a company owned by Mr Boerkhoorn.
He and Mr Collins had been led to believe that once the payment was
made, contracts for the sale would be sent by Farrell to lawyers acting
for Mr Collins, said Miss Dhir. But no contracts or other legal
documentation were forthcoming.
Farrell, 57, of Aldershot, Hampshire, Dolan, 68, of Tottenham, North
London and Lee, 49, of Beal, Goole, East Yorkshire, deny conspiracy to
defraud. The trial continues.

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Broker faces jail after £3m HSBC gamble fails

A broker who lost his firm nearly £3 million by shorting shares in HSBC without permission is facing prison after admitting falsifying documents to conceal the unauthorised trades.
Jonathan Bunn, 31, of Weybridge, Surrey, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to false accounting in breach of the Theft Act. An additional charge of fraud, which he denied, will not be pursued. He is facing up to seven years in prison.
Mr Bunn, who worked at Lewis Charles Securities, a London stockbroker, was also barred by the Financial Securities Authority from working in the City again.
Mr Bunn was accused of shorting almost seven million shares in HSBC between July 22 and July 30 last year using the broker’s own money, despite not being authorised to make proprietary trades. According to the FSA, which alerted the City of London Police to the matter, Mr Bunn concealed these positions by writing out false deal slips to mislead back-office staff into into thinking that his trades were “matched” with clients.

Mr Bunn continued to claim that the trades were genuine even after he was challenged by his superiors, the FSA said. Over several days, during which Mr Bunn did not attend work, Lewis Charles Securities staff sent a series of increasingly frantic e-mails asking him to provide details of his trades. At one point, the head of the interdealer broking desk visited his home to demand an explanation.
Eventually, Mr Bunn admitted in a text message to senior managers that there were no counterparties. “I’m sorry and I realise how serious this is,” he told them.
By the time that Lewis Charles Securities closed the trades, it had lost £2.7 million, the FSA said. Stavros Loizou, the firm’s co-founder and chief executive, personally lost £350,000, the court was told.
Mr Loizou said that Lewis Charles Securities reported the matter to the FSA and co-operated at all times with the investigation. He added: “While this was a tremendous blow, Lewis Charles has made significant strides to get back on track.”
Yesterday David Levy, for the prosecution, told the court: “It was a gamble. The defendant hoped the shares would drop. He made no personal gain, but there was a massive loss.”
Mr Bunn was released on bail and will appear for sentencing on June 24. Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, QC, told him: “This is a very serious matter. You know I cannot make any promises and custody is the likely sentence.”
Margaret Cole, head of enforcement at the FSA, said: “Bunn undertook unauthorised trades which exposed LCS to a significant market risk. His behaviour was both deliberate and dishonest. Such behaviour is woefully short of that expected of approved persons and will not be tolerated.”
Mr Bunn previously worked at ING Barings and JP Morgan Markets before joining Lewis Charles last year, according to the FSA register.
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Businessman Peter Guestyn jailed for attempted $1bn fake currency con

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:13 PM on 12th May 2010

Jailed: Peter Guestyn, pictured outside court today, tried to con banks into cashing a billion dollars worth of counterfeit currency
A businessman who tried to con banks into cashing a billion dollars worth of counterfeit currency was jailed for 32 months today.Peter Guestyn, 60, presented bank staff with ’silver certificates’ which he claimed were worth a million dollars each.The father-of-one had 100 bogus asset notes - which were last issued by the U.S. treasury in 1969.Guestyn tried unsuccessfully to deposit the notes with two banks between 2002 and 2005, Southwark Crown Court heard.Following his arrest after the second attempt, he tried his luck a third time with an investment bank last year. Guestyn claimed he had been given the certificates by the U.S. government as payment for secret business deals.Prosecutor Christopher Coultard said one Barclays employee asked if Guestyn was joking when he first attempted to bank notes with a face value of $90million at a branch in Eastbourne in November 2002.The clerk agreed to take the notes and issued him with a receipt on the premise they would run checks and get back to him.’Whilst silver certificates had once been issued the maximum amount was for $1,000 and had not been tendered since 1969,’ Mr Coultard said.Guestyn was later told the notes would not be accepted. The staff at the Barclays branch did not however call the police.Three years later, Guestyn tried to dupe the manager of Icelandic bank Landsbanki with an email proposing to deposit $70million.’In letters he said this matter was a private and confidential one and involved personal funds,’ Mr Coultard told the court.’He said the source of the funds were the U.S. treasury department and had been in his possession since 2003 and had been cleared by the FBI.’Guestyn also emailed a scanned image of the certificates to indicate their authenticity.He also sent a letter to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the U.S., hoping to receive confirmation that the notes were genuine, the prosecutor said.’By receiving letters from these institutions that didn’t go as far as to say the notes were false, they were subsequently used by Guestyn as evidence the notes were genuine in some way.’ Despite receiving a note back from the Bureau stating ‘Your notes are not genuine US currency and have no value’ he persisted in trying to con the Icelandic bank.Banking staff who travelled to London from Reykjavik to meet with Guestyn were informed by police the notes were fake and they should proceed with caution.Mr Coultard said: ‘He was asked further questions about the providence of the funds, but he said he was unable to produce more evidence but that the notes were from secret business he had conducted with the U.S. and China.’ In the days that followed Guestyn was hoping to get a line of credit in the sum of $70million from the Icelandic bank and couriered the notes to the capital.He sent further emails claiming they were authentic but were not ‘public knowledge’ so could not be verified by the U.S. government.The Iceland authorities reported him and he was arrested at his home in Eastbourne, East Sussex.He told police the notes had been given to him by someone in China and that he had been promised a 50 per cent share in the profits if he could successfully bank them.   Guestyn was granted bail and was awaiting further proceedings against him when last year he again attempted to shift the silver certificates and contacted City bank Julius Baer.During a subsequent meeting he produced a box from his car which was adorned with U.S. Treasury seals.He told the bank employee he had $997million worth of the certificates and that $3million had been kept by the American government so the could display them in a museum. He asked the investment bank to open him an account in Geneva, but they later contacted him to say they did not think it was ‘practical’ to do so. The court heard Guestyn, who went to university in South Africa, was once a successful businessman and investor but lost his money in the early 1990s.He also began suffering from anxiety and depression and now lives on disability benefits.Passing sentence Judge Peter Testar said: ‘It seems to me that the conduct which is described is the conduct of a determined and competent conman.’He determined great pressure on staff at the institutions in trying to get them to accepting the documents for what he purported them to be.’It is quite something that they didn’t cave in to this pressure.’  Guestyn admitted two counts of using a false instrument.

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BA price-fixing trial collapses

New evidence suggests the two airlines did not fix fuel charges

The trial of three ex-British Airways executives and one current employee on price-fixing charges has collapsed.

Prosecuting QC Richard Latham told the judge at Southwark Crown Court in London that he would offer “no evidence”.

The four men, who denied wrongdoing, had been accused of agreeing with Virgin Atlantic to fix fuel surcharge prices between 2004 and 2006.

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BA ‘price-fix’ trial is halted for third time

The trial of four British Airways executives accused of criminal price-fixing
was postponed for the third time yesterday.

Mr Justice Owen told a jury at Southwark Crown Court, in London, that they
would not be needed until Monday because of a “problem”. He did not
elaborate. On Tuesday this week the judge released the jury early, saying
that there had been a technical fault with the monitors used to present
evidence in court.

Yesterday he said: “The technical problem with the screens has been resolved
but there’s a further problem that has arisen that I have to resolve.”

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Four BA executives ‘conspired with Virgin to rig higher ticket prices’

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:10 PM on 26th April 2010

Four British Airways executives fixed the price of fuel surcharges in a secret deal with Virgin Atlantic, systematically ripping off millions of the two airlines’ customers for two years, a court heard today.The four defendants agreed with each other and others at Virgin Atlantic ‘to make and implement agreements which would lead, and which in fact did lead, to price fixing’, Southwark Crown Court was told.BA’s sales and marketing director Andrew Crawley, former head of communications Iain Burns, Alan Burnett, who led sales in the UK and Ireland, and one-time commercial director Martin George all deny a cartel offence under the Enterprise Act 2002.
The accused: Clockwise from above left are Alan Burnett, Iain Burns, Martin George and Andrew Crawley, who face charges of price-fixing

Richard Latham QC, prosecuting for the Office of Fair Trading, told the jury of eight men and four women that the ‘crucial element’ was that of dishonesty in a secret price-fixing arrangement.’No one complains because no one knew what was going on,’ he said.’But every single purchaser is a victim.’Cartels create a ’secret profit’ which can make millions of pounds for those involved, Mr Latham said.He said the four defendants dishonestly agreed with Virgin Atlantic executives Paul Moore, William Boulter and Steven Ridgway to fix the price of fuel surcharges between July 1, 2004, and April 20, 2006.But he said the three Virgin executives had blown the whistle on the criminal cartel and would be giving evidence for the prosecution in exchange for immunity from prosecution.’The situation may arise where the defendants are little more culpable than the prosecution witnesses,’ he said.’But if Virgin executives had not admitted their participation in price-fixing with British Airways the illicit activities would almost certainly have remained hidden to this very day.’British Airways was such a big player in the market that its actions were ‘bound to have an effect on all carriers’, Mr Latham said.Granting immunity to the Virgin executives was a ‘necessary evil’ for the Office of Fair Trading (OfT) to be able to bring a prosecution, Mr Latham said.
Leak: Virgin staff involved in the deal were granted immunity by police in return for opening up about the arrangement
He added there may be some “reluctance” on the part of the Virgin witnesses to admit that they were dishonest, but the jury should decide this for themselves.’No one likes to admit they were dishonest,’ he said. ‘Least of all otherwise upright, respectable citizens.’Later, Mr Latham said Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, has not been involved in the airline’s day-to-day running ‘for many years’.But he added the jury ‘may conclude he retained a keen interest and would intervene on issues that interested or concerned him’.'You may conclude he certainly had an interest in pricing,’ Mr Latham said.
In the dock: Four BA executives stand accused of price-fixing
The court heard George was the commercial director and the three other defendants all reported directly to him, Mr Latham said.The jury was shown part of a presentation given to all the defendants apart from George which explained how ‘hardcore cartels are like theft’.EU fines for cartel offences totalled one billion euros in 2002 and OfT fines in the same year totalled £40 million, the presentation showed.Individuals guilty of cartel offences also faced ’severe punishment’, including up to five years imprisonment.Mr Latham said: ‘You can see here the gravity of the sort of conduct this whole thing was designed to stop.’He said although George did not attend the training session, as commercial director of British Airways, ‘he could not have been the one person in the senior management team at that airline who was blissfully unaware of the fundamentals of competition law’.Crawley, 43, of Puers Lane, Jordans, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire;
Burns, 51, of Upper Hale Road, Farnham, Surrey; Burnett, 63, of St
David’s Drive, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey; and George, 47, from
Wensleydale Road, Hampton, Middlesex, are all on bail.The case
continues.

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Wife of fugitive fraudster jailed for her role in £8m mortgage con

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:18 PM on 23rd March 2010

Jailed: Ruth Ayinde-Azeez was jailed for four years for laundering £1.25m
A care home assistant who led a life of luxury thanks to an £8million mortgage fraud sobbed as she was jailed for four years today.Ruth Ayinde-Azeez, 26, lived in a six-bedroom mansion containing 12 plasma TVs and drove around in a top-of-the range Bentley and Land Rover.She took lavish holidays in Dubai and the south of France, kept £1.6m in her bank accounts and blew huge sums at upmarket bars and restaurants.But her lifestyle was funded by crime, Southwark Crown Court heard.Her husband Victor, a fraudster who is on the run overseas, led a mortgage con gang which plundered nearly £6m from high street banks in just six weeks using a network of front companies and crooked solicitors.The court heard that Ruth Ayinde-Azeez was sucked into the criminal world of her husband and came to enjoy the trappings of excessive wealth.
The Kenyan national laundered £1.25million and was jailed today for four years for her part in the fraud.Mrs Ayinde-Azeez, of Barnet, was found guilty at trial last month of conspiracy to acquire, use or have criminal property and removing criminal property.During the trial, the jury heard that when she was arrested, she had loaded her car and was about to flea the country.Judge Anthony Beddoe told former care home worker Ruth: ‘I do accept that you got sucked into the dishonesty of your husband, and it may be that had you never met, you would never have been in the position you are in, in this court.’But you are not, I am afraid, as naive as your counsel sought to suggest on your behalf to the jury.
Luxury: A house that Ruth Ayinde-Azeez was in the process of buying with proceeds from an £8 million mortgage deception
‘You were not stuck with Victor Ayinde-Azeez because you had his baby.’The evidence revealed to me that this relationship became a meeting of minds, and you came fully to enjoy, as he did, the trappings of excessive wealth.’So much so that you were prepared to follow his lead wherever it might take you, ready to leave your child in the care of your mother if necessary, and ready to join your husband overseas.’You laundered over £1.25m, and were set to launder very much more.”I recall the images shown to the jury of you spending and sharing the spoils with Victor.’  Three others who took part in the fraud were also sentenced.Isaac Matthews, 42, of Chatham, Kent, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acquire, use or have criminal property and two counts of entering into an arrangement in relation to criminal proceeds. Describing him as a ’seasoned fraudster’ the judge sentenced him to six years in jail.
Hot tub: Mrs Ayinde-Azeez was purchasing a luxury home when she was arrested
The court heard he had previously been sentenced to nine years in the US for fraud.Matthews used his sister, Anthonia Akinyele, 35, of the same address, to help launder the money through two companies.In total £5.2 million went through the companies, Zikkito and Isaac and Isaac International.The judge said: ‘I have no doubt you were to receive and were expecting to receive a very significant cut.’Akinyele, who pleaded guilty to acquiring, using or having criminal property and two counts of entering into an arrangement in relation to criminal proceeds, will be sentenced later.Jason Mercer, 36,of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acquire, use or have criminal property.The judge said Mercer, who obtained £111,000 to launder, conspired to play a part in the distribution of money being criminally obtained by Nigerian Victor Ayinde-Azeez and others and sentenced him to 21 months.David Hunter, 35, of Hemel Hempstead, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud.The judge sentenced him to three years and nine months in jail, saying he was responsible for losses of £1.5 million after lending his name to four fraudulent mortgage applications.The court heard that 24 fraudulent mortgage applications were successfully made between June and December 2007.

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