On 22 April 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced it had commenced criminal proceedings against an unauthorised mortgage adviser Larry Barreto and an accountant Tassib Hussain over an alleged fraud totalling £3.8m.
Criminal Proceedings | Rosenblatt’s Financial Crime Team
These criminal proceedings relate to an offence of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation involving both defendants and two further offences by Mr Barreto for carrying out regulated activities without authorisation.
Mr Barreto traded as Barreto and Partners, an unauthorised financial services firm based in Nottingham. Mr Hussain is an accountant who ran Keystone Chartered Accountants also based in Nottingham.
The fraud charges relate to a series of mortgage applications made between January 2015 and March 2018. The alleged conspiracy centres around Mr Barreto’s mortgage clients. It is alleged that if Mr Barretto concluded that his clients had insufficient income to justify the mortgage they required, he would charge the client a fee which he would subsequently pay in cash to Mr Hussain to create false employment documentation to support the mortgage applications. The total value of the mortgages applied for is believed to be in excess of £3.8m. A conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation is contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006.
The unauthorised business charges, which Mr Barreto is also facing, relate to advice provided and arrangements made regarding a series of regulated mortgage contracts between June 2014 and March 2018. Mr Barreto is an unauthorised and prohibited person and as such could not provide regulated financial services. By allegedly doing so Mr Barreto acted contrary to section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
Both men appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 21 April 2021. The case was sent to Southwark Crown Court with a Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing listed for 19 May 2021.
Fraud is punishable by a fine and/or up to 10 years’ imprisonment whilst unauthorised business is punishable by a fine and/or up to 2 years’ imprisonment.
We will continue to monitor the FCA’s investigation and provide further updates as the proceedings unfold.
Rosenblatt can help
Rosenblatt has a wealth of experience in financial crime and is uniquely placed to support clients’ that are the subject of an FCA investigation and prosecution having defended one of the largest prosecutions brought by the Financial Conduct Authority.
https://www.rosenblatt-law.co.uk/services/financial-crime/#financial-crime
