£17m fraudster brothers who conned pensioners jailed for 11 years

Two financial adviser brothers, who conned 200 pensioners and vulnerable clients out of millions of pounds, have been jailed for a total of 11 years today. The brothers, both once members of the CISI, spent the proceeds on a lavish lifestyle, including hiring a private jet for more than £150,000, a boat worth more than £50,000 and an exclusive timeshare costing £260,000. They also splashed out on several expensive Patek Philippe and Rolex watches worth tens of thousands of pounds each. Alan and Russell Taylor, from Norwich, abused the trust of mainly local clients for six years by targeting retirees, or those approaching retirement, to persuade them to invest in a high-risk scheme called the ‘Vantage Trader Fund’ which they controlled. Judge Anthony Bate jailed Alan Taylor for six years and Russell Taylor for five years at Kings Lynn Crown Court today. Both have been disqualified from being company directors for 12 years. The brothers invested up to £16.7million on behalf of more than 200 elderly and vulnerable clients, resulting in losses of more than £5million, which have mostly been covered by the FSCS. In total, more than £16.7million was invested in the Vantage Fund between 2008 and 2015, Kings Lynn Crown Court was told. Many victims found themselves having to continue to work following the fraud, rather than retiring as they had planned.While running Taylor and Taylor Associates, the men would tell their victims the scheme was a safer investment than the savings they already had, but in reality it was high risk and left clients with a future of financial uncertainty. The clients’ money was placed in ‘contracts for difference’ which were effectively bets on stock price movements. The potential advantage was that large sums of money could be made with much smaller investments, the brothers claimed. However there could also be significant losses.The Taylors owned the fund and were therefore making money from these investments but failed to pass this information on to their clients.The brothers were convicted on 6 March, after pleading guilty to a number of fraud offences, including conspiracy to defraud and fraud by abuse of position. A spokeswoman for the CISI confirmed both brothers had been members of the body some years ago.She told Financial Planning Today: “Both Russell and Alan Taylor joined the Institute as students 2006 and their membership was lapsed in early 2008.” Anamarie Coomansingh, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Alan and Russell Taylor took over their father’s business and used his client lists to target victims who trusted them to invest their money wisely. “The scheme they chose was not a surety to increase pension pots, as the Taylors told their victims, but was similar to gambling their clients’ futures on the spin of a roulette wheel. One victim unknowingly invested £200,000 in the scheme and was left with just over half of that amount. “Others had to take up part-time jobs to help them through retirement as a result of the impact on their finances. "The defendants had no consideration of their clients’ circumstances and offered their worthless investment as a better option. “The CPS was able to show that the advice given by the Taylors to their victims was anything but honest and was instead designed to line their own pockets.”

£17m fraudster brothers who conned pensioners jailed for 11 years

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