Two brothers from Brighton have been convicted over the Lapland theme park scam.
Victor Mears, 67, of Selsfield Drive, Moulsecoomb, and Henry Mears, 60, of Coombe Road, Brighton, were found guilty of conning thousands of customers.
Many of their victims were families with young children, disappointed after responding to adverts in The Argus and other local newspapers to visit the bogus “winter wonderland” in the New Forest.
The brothers are believed to have taken more than £1,000,000 through the scam.
They were convicted of eight counts of misleading advertising by a jury at Bristol Crown Court after a two-month trial.
They will be sentenced on Friday 18 March and in the meantime have been remanded on bail.
Dorset Trading Standards brought the case after thousands of angry customers complained of being ripped off shortly before Christmas in 2008.
The site closed within days, with the owners blaming negative media coverage and sabotage.
