A Manchester security guard who posed as a wealthy investor so that he could dupe a business couple out of £625,000 was jailed today.
Rizwan Butt, 45, who lives with his sick mother, posed as the middleman for an imaginary 1.5billion dollar investor.
The conman met the business couple at posh hotels like the Dorchester and Ritz in order to lure them in, bragging about contacts in the Middle East and Swiss bank accounts.
He drove her home in a Bentley from one meeting – while his 2003 Honda Accord sat at home in Longsight.
Butt received a three-and-half year sentence today at Manchester Crown Court for fraud.
The trickster falsely gained the confidence of high-flying businesswoman and chief executive Talke Stauss in 2012.
Mrs Stauss and her husband Roman were founders of a hedge fund called ATG Investment Managers Ltd and were looking for investors in order to gain FSA approval.
The couple circulated their business idea to a number of contacts and a third party put them in touch with Butt.
Mrs Stauss and Butt held a series of meetings over the next few weeks at the Dorchester and Ritz hotels where Butt played the part of middleman for her and an imaginary 1.5billion dollar investor.
Jasmine Ferguson, defense, provided documentary evidence of his ownership of Horizon Solutions UK Ltd which provides research into solar panels, yet accounts revealed a mere £7,000 to the companies name and no evidence of employees.
In an interview Butt told police he was a chauffeur.
He asked Mrs Straus for a million dollars (£625,000) as a ‘returnable deposit’ to seal the deal and the Stauss’ transferred the money to his bank account without making background checks.
Despite spending £175,000 on a mortgage, the majority of the money remained in Butt’s bank account and the judge has ordered for it to be returned to the Strauss’ as compensation.
The judge, Mr Justice Peter Openshaw, said Mrs Stauss had developed what he called an ‘infatuation’ for the defendant.
The judge said: “She trusted him. She was naive to the point of vulnerable. “
He later added: “She had fallen for an audacious confidence trickster.”
However Butt’s deception became apparent when a fellow director of ATG Investment Managers Ltd became concerned by the deposit and researched the ‘businessman.”
Butt’s mother is currently bedridden having undergone chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and as sole care-provider the judge showed concern for her wellbeing.
He said: “He (Butt) is responsible for his elderly mother. I realize of course that any sentence that I pass will bear hard upon her and I fear that will be an inevitable consequence of his actions and of the repossession of his house.”
Pc Jane McHale, from GMP’s Volume Fraud Team, said: “There is no doubt that Butt can talk the talk and walk the walk.
“He lived in a modest home and had a registered company with minimal assets, but played the role of a man with international business connections worth billions of pounds with apparent ease.
“So convincing was his portrayal, that he was able to dupe a number of highly successful and experienced business people out of huge sums.
“His assets have been frozen and now that he has been convicted we will use the full force of the law to recoup as much of the stolen money as possible.”
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