Indian-origin man among five jailed in UK's 'Boiler Room' scam

An Indian-origin man named Charanjit Sandhu has been sentenced to five and a half years' imprisonment for being part of a 2.8-million pound investment fraud targeting the elderly in the UK.

Sandhu was among five people jailed for a total of nearly 18 years at Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday (4) after the UK Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) second-largest criminal prosecution ever, dubbed Operation Tidworth, reported news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).

The case is described as a 'boiler room' scam and it involved defrauding of vulnerable individuals. Boiler rooms are unauthorised brokerages that use high-pressure sales tactics to sell worthless or overpriced investments to unsuspecting people.

According to the FCA, Sandhu, a senior broker, often used bullying sales tactics and false names.

During sentencing, Judge Christopher Hehir described Sandhu as having been "dazzled by the rewards of crime" and losing "his moral compass" and found that he had pestered investors "mercilessly by telephone." Hehir described Sandhu's conduct as "cruel and callous" and "chilling".

"These fraudsters callously targeted investors who were often elderly and vulnerable, lying to them to get them to part with significant sums of money," said Mark Steward, FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight, reported PTI.

"Despite efforts to conceal and destroy evidence, the FCA, in one of its largest-ever investigations, was able to ensure that these criminals faced justice and ended up behind bars. Applications under Proceeds of Crime legislation remain on foot and the FCA is determined to recover as much money from these defendants as possible for the benefit of investors," he said.

The others sentenced were Hugh Edwards, Stuart Rea, Jeannine Lewis and Ryan Parker. A sixth defendant, Michael Nascimento, will be sentenced on 14 September.