Fraudster splurged £8.5m on speedboat & supercars after carrying out one of Britain’s biggest ever property cons
A FRAUDSTER splurged £8.5million on a speedboat and supercars after carrying out one of Britain’s biggest-ever property cons.
Anopkumar Maudhoo swindled dozens of victims by selling them homes he did own across London and the South East.
The 45-year-old then used his ill-gotten gains to fund a luxury lifestyle.
When he was arrested last year, police seized a speedboat and 22 supercars, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins.
Maudhoo is now facing jail after he admitted 31 charges including 14 counts of fraud by false representation.
Southwark Crown Court heard the scammer, who is originally from Mauritius, is an illegal immigrant who should have been deported in 2010.
He carried out his scheme between April 2021 and December 2024 using homes in Ilford, Dartford, Greenwich, Bromley, Croydon and Buckinghamshire.
Maudhoo sold 75 “repossessed” properties and development plots to investors using faked documents and solicitor stamps.
Two buyers even purchased the same home in Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, where houses can fetch well over £10million.
But all the houses Maudhoo sold were not subject to repossession proceedings and the genuine owners were unaware of the fraudulent sales.
The con-artist used a number of aliases – including Rossello Di Paolo, Yusuf Khan and Hamid Khan and Vicenzo Conte.
Even when he was arrested, Maudhoo tried to keep up the scam by claiming he was called Pascal Burns and producing a fake driving licence.
The court heard he amassed a collection of more than 20 personalised number plates referencing his many identities.
Maudhoo has 25 previous convictions for fraud and has used his different identities to evade the police and immigration authorities.
Among the 31 charges he admitted were 16 counts of possessing a false identity document with improper intention and one of perverting the course of justice.
Maudhoo, of Wapping, East London, was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on June 30.
Detective Inspector Damian Barlow, from ERSOU’s (Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) Organised Crime Unit said: “The scale of Maudhoo’s offending is truly shocking, and what stood out as we pieced together this investigation is that he paid absolutely no regard to those he was defrauding.
“Put simply, he was purely focused on taking victims’ cash and using it to fund his lavish lifestyle.
“Our investigation has involved hours and hours of work as our teams picked through Maudhoo’s lies and attempted cover-ups.
“Victims in this case have lost significant sums of money, in some cases in excess of a million pounds, and we are continuing to work to ensure all of his assets are located, brought under police control, and used to repay those who Maudhoo targeted.”