Geoffrey Copp, together with his son Joshua and brother Andrew, ran Central Payroll Specialists (CPS), which was later rebranded as Quality Premier Services (QPS), based in Rickmansworth.

These were umbrella payroll companies, which were used by recruitment agencies to manage the wages of thousands of temporary workers. But the Copps did not pass the VAT they received from the recruitment agencies to HMRC, a court heard. Instead, they used it to fund their own luxury lifestyles.

The scam came to light after information was passed to Essex Police, resulting in an investigation led by the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate, with the assistance of HMRC’s criminal taxes unit.

This discovered that Joshua Copp, who worked at Central Payroll Specialists and QPS had declared his income as £19,256 for the tax years between 2010 and 2015. However, his bank accounts were credited with £11.9m between 2011 and 2015.

Police executed a warrant to search his home in May 2015, where they found numerous items including designer clothing, Rolex and Audemars Piguet watches, and deposit transfers for a Las Vegas casino, which showed he had deposited chips and foreign currency worth $1.5m (£1.16m) during a recent trip.

Enquiries revealed Copp was in the process of buying a £4.25m property in Barnet, and among the nine cars registered in his name were a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, a Lamborghini Aventador, a Bentley Continental, Rolls Royce Wraith and Rolls Royce Ghost.

On his mobile phone, officers found a photo of a notepad showing calculations of how the VAT fraud was worked out and then split between him and his father and uncle. The original notebook was later found at his desk at QPS. He was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and released on bail while enquiries continued.

Further investigative work into CPS and QPS’s finances found that the companies paid just under £4m in VAT between September 2012 and September 2015. HMRC investigators estimated there was just under £46m in unpaid VAT.

Tax records also showed that Geoffrey and Joshua paid no income tax between 2009 and 2015, while Andrew had paid £15,930. Andrew was a director of QPS, of which his brother was a 100% shareholder.

Police, accompanied by HMRC, executed further search warrants in September 2015 and arrested all three Copps on suspicion of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and money laundering.

They found £55,000 cash hidden in various places at Geoffrey’s home, including inside a Bentley GTC Convertible on the driveway.

Enquiries revealed Geoffrey owned at least one other property, which was mortgage-free, and a home in Malaga, and had bought three Bentley Continentals in cash between 2013 and 2015.

Andrew had five mortgage-free properties in the UK and one in Malaga. In 2015 he paid more than £362,000 for a Range Rover Vogue, Lamborghini Gallardo and Bentley Continental.

In March 2016, all three Copps were charged with conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and conspiring to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property. All were found guilty of the charges against them at a trial at Wood Green Crown Court and will be sentenced on 9 June.

Detective Chief Inspector Josie Hayes, of the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate, said: ‘Geoffrey, Andrew and Joshua Copp conducted a highly organised payroll fraud on a scale never before seen in the UK.

‘They shamelessly took money destined for the public purse to fill their own wallets and brazenly fund extravagant lifestyles, which were beyond the means of many, including the workers whose wages they managed.

‘This was unknown to the many hard-working temp staff whose wages they managed and the recruitment agencies who entrusted the Copps to manage payrolls and paid fees for those services.’