'Gordon Gekko' fraudsters jailed over £7m share scam

Laura Miller
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Two men have been jailed over a boiler room scam in which they creamed off 80% of the invested funds.

David Arthur Vidgeon and Rahul Natwar Patel were each sentenced to seven years in prison at Ipswich Crown Court today. They were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud investors, many of whom were retired and elderly, via an illegal high pressure, "boiler room" share-pushing operation from call centres in Spain. Between April 2003 and November 2006, around 1,250 investors in the UK were persuaded to buy over £7m worth of valueless shares. The fraudsters siphoned off around 80% of the invested funds. Boiler rooms are call centres, concerned in the selling of shares on behalf of...

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