East Sussex fraudster jailed for conning clients out of £3.8million
He used most of the money to fund his and his wife's lavish lifestyle
An East Sussex conman who orchestrated a complex large-scale fraud operation has been jailed for 12.5 years.
Duncan Grant convinced his victims to invest in his cash spoiling device company, Patronus, and in purchasing ATMs to recondition.
But of the £3.8 million collected - only £549k was used by the company.
Police said the 54-year-old, of Chillies Lane, Crowborough, used the rest to fund his and his wife’s lavish lifestyle of holidays, jewellery, luxury £1M+ rented homes and cars.
Detective Constable Fleur Jones, of the Surrey and Sussex Economic Crime Unit, said: “This was a complex investigation where Grant had moved monies between many bank accounts in order to try to obfuscate where over £3million of victims’ money disappeared to.
“One of the things I felt was important was to be able to tell those victims exactly what their money was spent on by Grant.
“Between us, my team were able to trace the journey of each person’s money through numerous accounts and transactions until we found that it had been spent, amongst other things, on rentals for luxury homes, fast cars, jewellery, Rolex watches, holidays, and expensive meals in top restaurants.
“Grant lived a life that many could only dream of, using other people’s money that they had invested in him in good faith, thinking he was either using it to develop a business or that he was helping his elderly parents.
“In convicting Grant, we worked tirelessly to obtain justice for these victims, many of whom thought were his friend.”
Grant conned people into giving him money by befriending them and using his parents’ illnesses to gain sympathy – claiming he needed financial assistance for their care.
The investigation also found his fraudulent activity began in December 2019, and it was revealed he had previously been bankrupt and changed his name twice before being made bankrupt again.