Six charged with £50m mortgage fraud
Six people have been charged with fraud relating to mortgage advances totalling nearly £50m, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has revealed.
The six defendants were charged for high value commercial mortgage fraud at the City of London Magistrates Court today following a complaint from the Cheshire Building Society.
They dishonestly obtained loans from banks or building societies, it is alleged, that were secured on six commercial investment properties.
The defendants then obtained mortgage advances totalling nearly £50m on the basis of fraudulent valuations and grossly inflated prices, with the lenders suffering significant losses when the mortgages subsequently defaulted.
Ian McGarry, Hardeep Sodhi, Fatema Patwa, Saghir Afzal and Laurence Ferrigan were charged with conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception and dishonestly obtaining a money transfer. Simon Lawrence was charged with conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception.
Following today's hearing, the case has been sent to Southwark Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on 4 January.
The investigation was referred to the SFO in March 2006 by West Midlands Police.
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