A corrupt stockbroker who promised more than 300 investors huge returns for pouring £5.4mn into a South American gold mine was spared jail today (November 7).
Stephen Todd, 41, masterminded the swindle through IPR Capital Ltd, offering shares in the mining company in Ecuador.
Todd has previous convictions for fraud and was disqualified from being a company boss for 10 years in 2017 for unfit conduct while running a series of disreputable firms in the City.
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He and financial analyst Steven Mayne, 42, both admitted conspiracy to defraud while David Williams, 41, and John Andrews, 54, admitted money laundering offences.
Todd and Mayne were both sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
Williams received a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.
Andrews, a former Army NCO currently serving a lengthy jail sentence for dealing MDMA, was jailed for 12 months.
Todd was also disqualified from being a company director for six years.
‘I’m finding it difficult to re-live this time’
Retired nurse Geraldine Fitzgerald, who lost £13,000 in the scam, had told Southwark Crown Court: “I felt excited about the gold mining project. I had recently inherited a few thousand pounds from the death of my mother.
“I was very impressed by their friendliness on the phone. They invited me to visit the office.
“They gave the impression of being honest…
