Two advisers jailed over £17m fraud

Alan and Russell Taylor were sentenced to six and five years respectively at King’s Lynn Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

The brothers were arrested following an investigation after several of their clients became concerned about the loss of money invested in the brothers’ company, Taylor & Taylor Associates Ltd, and contacted Action Fraud.

The investigation uncovered how the brothers had used their company to defraud their clients out of vast sums of money between 2008 and 2015.

They fraudulently produced client records and misrepresented documents and persuaded their clients, who were often elderly and vulnerable, to sign them in order to gain access to their pension funds.

Without the clients’ knowledge, they then transferred the money to another company they owned, Vantage Investment Group Ltd., and placed them in a high-risk finance scheme.

Each victim typically lost around half of their money.

Detective Chief Inspector Liz Fernandes, from ERSOU, said: “These heartless brothers cruelly took advantage of the trust their clients had in them by investing their money into a high-risk investment scheme akin to a roulette wheel.

“The victims had worked hard to accrue their pension funds and trusted the Taylors to make wise investment decisions for them. Instead they used the money for their own personal gain, frittering away their illicitly gained funds on items such as expensive cars and their own private boat bought by the business.

“Our officers have worked tirelessly for a number of years to bring these two individuals to justice so I’m delighted with the sentence handed out today as well as the substantial confiscation order which will see the brothers pay back their ill-gotten gains or face an even longer time in jail.

“This sentence can never make up for the heartache, anxiety, and trauma caused by the Taylors, but by stripping them of their liberty and lavish lifestyle, I hope we have brought some form of comfort and justice to the many victims.”

Mike Broomfield, head of intelligence at The Pensions Regulator, added: “The Taylors are textbook examples of how fraudsters abuse the trust of their vulnerable victims.

“They have cost their victims a large chunk of their pensions, leaving hundreds of people with less secure retirements.

“Regional organised crime units such as ERSOU, police forces, regulators and agencies work together to tackle pension scams, but we all need to do our bit to protect ourselves and the vulnerable in our community from fraudsters.”