A serial conman from Brighton has been jailed for seven and a half years for a £2 million trail of fraud and money laundering.
David Farrah-Tunnicliffe, also known as David Tunnicliffe, 51, of Atlingworth Street, Brighton, only came under investigation after he lost his wallet and it was handed in to police.
But as a result, detectives uncovered a series of scams and cons, including invoice fraud and fake investment websites – one of which was used to swindle a pensioner out of his life savings.
Farrah-Tunnicliffe used a company called Top Spec to fraudulently claim £465,000 in rates relief during the coronavirus pandemic from councils in Aylesbury, Derby, Durham, Hereford, Lambeth and Stoke.
The company was also linked to a covid bounce-back loan although Farrah-Tunnicliffe denied benefiting from the £50,000 that was borrowed.
Police said: “In October 2019, a bag belonging to Farrah-Tunnicliffe was handed into Brighton police station.
“It contained his passport, a number of mobile phones and a wallet. Within the wallet were cards in various names.
“A few days later, he left a wallet in a bank in Brighton. The wallet contained cards that were not in his name.
“As a result, an investigation was launched by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit SEROCU. Officers discovered that Farah-Tunnicliffe was setting up companies in alias names.
“Additionally, Farrah-Tunnicliffe was found to have assumed the identity of the man whose name was found on the cards left in the bank.
“The man had died in 2018. Farrah-Tunnicliffe used his bank accounts to launder further funds and later falsely represented himself as the man – to claim £19,000 from probate solicitors.”
He was working with three other men, using companies set up by them also. A judge described them as “the three stooges”.
One of them, John Robertson, was found to be using a driving licence in the name of another person.
Robertson, aged 75, of Chichester Place, Brighton, pleaded guilty to one money laundering charge and one count of fraud. He was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
At Lewes Crown Court, Toby Fitzgerald, prosecuting, said that the company bank accounts were used to launder the proceeds of fraud.
After Farrah-Tunnicliffe was arrested and appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, last December, he went to Nice, in the south of France.
He ended up coming back to Britain after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest and extradition proceedings were started.
As preparations were being made for a jury trial, Farah-Tunnicliffe changed his plea to guilty. He admitted four counts of fraud, one charge of money laundering and one count of sending criminal property abroad.
The amount of money that was laundered came to a total of £2,149,385.99.
The court was told that Farrah-Tunnicliffe had previously been jailed for five years for fraud and money laundering.
A second accomplice, David Harper, 45, also of Atlingworth Street, Brighton, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 20 months.
Judge Mark Van Der Zwart ordered him to complete 150 hours of unpaid community service and to attend 30 rehabilitation days.
Harper, also known as Mark Smith, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering, one count of sending criminal proceeds abroad and one count of fraud.
The “third stooge”, Clark Slimmon, 34, a self-employed plumber, of Sanyhils Avenue, Patcham, admitted helping to send criminal property abroad. He was also given a 12-month prison sentence. It was suspended for 12 months.
Slimmon was also ordered him to complete 150 hours of unpaid community service and to attend 10 rehabilitation days.
The investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Maria Isom, from SEROCU, said: “This has been a lengthy and complex investigation in which Farrah-Tunnicliffe, Harper and Robertson have used multiple bank accounts to launder the proceeds of invoice and investment frauds.
“As a result, victims from across the world have lost large amounts of money.
“Farrah-Tunnicliffe was highly knowledgeable and acted as a coach to Harper and Robertson, enabling them to carry out the money laundering. Consequently, he will now spend time in prison.
“I hope this case demonstrates the commitment that SEROCU has to tackling large-scale fraud and that offenders can expect to be caught and taken to court.”
A Proceeds of Crime Act investigation is under way with the aim of recovering as much as possible.
Three accomplices, guilty of money laundering and fraud, all jail time suspended. Nice to see that (white collar) crime pays with little to no penalty.
and don’t forget the 150 hours of unpaid community service, they must be devastated by this…….they are laughing their socks off.
Not sure how you guys can say that when Farrah-Tunnicliffe got 7 and a half years. That’s a hefty sentence. The others probably played a minor roll and sending them to prison might actually be counter productive.
The others may have played a minor role, but were still convicted of money laundering and fraud.
Compare these suspended sentences to the fines handed out for people using blue badges, it seems that fraudulent parking is a worse crime than money laundering and outright fraud.