A businessman who claimed to trade in fine wines and diamonds but instead duped investors, has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison after a HMRC investigation found he had failed to pay £51,000 in income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) over a six-year period and had defrauded customers of some £300,000
Jonothan Piper from Wanstead, London, owned Embassy Wines UK Ltd and had previously traded as a land and diamonds salesman. HMRC investigators discovered Piper had been living the high life, despite his claims that he was living at home with his parents and not earning. Instead, he was driving around in luxury cars, including a Bentley and a Range Rover, living in an expensive rented flat and had bought hundreds of pairs of expensive trainers.
In total Piper pocketed more than £51,000 in income tax and NICs from his undeclared earnings, between 2008 and 2014.
Investigators discovered Piper was also under investigation by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) after investors complained that they had been mis-sold expensive wine collections and had either not received the wine they were promised or were deceived in respect of the expected returns. Many investors were then persuaded to sell their wine collections to Piper’s company, but did not receive the promised payment.
An investigation by BEIS found that the self-professed fine-wine broker had not traded legitimately at all and had set up the company to simply con investors out of approximately £300,000.
John Cooper, assistant director, fraud Investigation service, HMRC, said: ‘Piper was looking to make easy money and although he had no experience or qualifications, he set himself up as a high-quality trader in diamonds and then in expensive wines. He thought he was above the law, exploiting the tax system and conning unsuspecting investors out of thousands of pounds.’
Piper pleaded guilty to acting with intent to prejudice or defraud HMRC, fraudulent trading, and converting criminal property, at Snaresbrook Crown Court. He has already been disqualified from being a director for 11 years.
Ian West, deputy chief investigations officer, BEIS said: ‘Mr Piper cynically attempted to dissolve his company without notifying his creditors of his intention or complying with the three month trading restriction prior to any application for the striking off/dissolution of a company, to mask his fraudulent activity.
‘It was established that he had defrauded his companies’ unsuspecting clients of in excess of £295,000 in a wine investment scam carried out, in conjunction with other frauds against the revenue, to fund his expensive lifestyle. He now has to face the serious consequences of his criminal lifestyle.’
Confiscation proceedings to recover the proceeds of Piper’s crimes are ongoing.
