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Ex-HBOS manager and five others face jail over £245m scam www.theguardian.com
A group of six financiers including a former senior HBOS banker face jail after being convicted on Monday for their roles in a scam involving £245m worth of fraudulent loans.
Ex-HBOS manager Lynden Scourfield, 54, was bribed by David Mills, 60, with foreign cruises and sex parties, a jury at Southwark crown court found on Monday.
In addition the former banker was lavished with stays in Mayfair hotels, trips to Las Vegas and Barbados, a £3,220 Cartier watch and enjoyed three nights on a six-star cruise from Nice to Saint Tropez.
In return, Scourfield, who had previously pleaded guilty to charges relating to his role in the scam last year, agreed to give inappropriate loans to struggling businesses, which allowed Mills and his associates to profit from imposing high consultancy fees on those firms.
Many of the businesses went bankrupt as a result and some of the owners lost their homes. Stephen Rowland, of the Crown Prosecution Service fraud division, said: “This had a very real impact on a lot of people, individuals who had worked had to build up companies.”
Mills, who faces the potential of a long prison term along with Scourfield, was convicted alongside his wife Alison, 51, their associates Michael Bancroft, 73, and Tony Cartwright, 72, for their various roles in running the fraud between 2003 and 2007. Mark Dobson, 56, another HBOS banker who used to work under Scourfield, was also found guilty.
A seventh man, accountant Jonathan Cohen, 57, was acquitted.
Scourfield was in charge of corporate customers experiencing financial difficulties at HBOS’s branch in Reading, Berkshire, until he resigned in 2007.
He received gifts of clothes, jewellery, luxury hotels, business-class flights and expensive meals at an oyster bar and a cheesecake restaurant, the jury heard during a four-month trial.
The court was told how more than £28m passed from HBOS through the bank accounts of either Mills, his wife or companies under his control, although not all of that sum was retained by the financier.
Mills’s wife also played an active role in the scheme, inviting Scourfield and his wife, plus Dobson, to go on trips to Ascot racecourse. Meanwhile Mills, Bancroft, Scourfield and their wives holidayed together in Barbados to celebrate Alison Mills’ 40th birthday.
Aside from stories of high end holidays, luxury yachts and expensive jewellery, the court also heard less glamorous evidence, including how Scourfield would receive regular bribes in the form of envelopes stuffed with thousands of pounds in cash to pay for sex workers at a flat in Marylebone, central London.
One woman who worked at Fantasy – a pornographic magazine company under Scourfield’s portfolio – said she was asked to arrange girls for the “posh twat banker friends”.
A diary entry from one of the sex workers read: “Met guys, me, Amber and Suzie. Chinese meal. Then drinks at flat and quick shag. Easy £1,500.”
Rowland said: “There was a very seedy side to this case and that’s indicative of the kind of mindset and the kind of sleazy elements of these kinds of crimes.”
The prosecution was brought after a six-year investigation by Thames Valley police that involved 150 officers who sifted through about 500,000 documents. Three rooms were needed to house the evidence collected during the investigation.
Scourfield pleaded guilty in August to six counts, including conspiracy to corrupt.
Mills and Bancroft were found guilty of six and five counts respectively, including conspiracy to corrupt and fraudulent trading. Alison Mills was convicted of one count of money laundering.
Dobson and Cartwright were both convicted on two counts.
Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.
Published Date:2017-01-31
