A man from London who made huge sums fraudulently selling homes and land he did not own has been jailed for ten years.
Anopkumar Maudhoo used several aliases as he orchestrated a large-scale conveyancing fraud which offered investment opportunities in supposedly repossessed properties, or the re-development of plots of land.
However, in reality the properties were not subject to repossession proceedings and the genuine owners were unaware of the fraudulent sales.
Maudhoo, 46, from Wapping, was today (Friday) jailed at Southwark Crown Court following an investigation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).
He had previously admitted 31 charges of fraud, with a further 45 offences ‘taken into consideration’ relating to further scams of a similar nature.
Maudhoo was apprehended by ERSOU officers during warrants across Central London and Hertfordshire in September 2024, following initial enquires led by Hertfordshire Constabulary.
Detectives established that he had used companies under his control to create the impression he had unique access to repossessed and liquidated properties.
When victims raised concerns, Maudhoo would exchange messages with himself using different aliases and devices, creating a fictional paper trail by pretending he was liaising with a point of escalation within his business or a contact in the planning or conveyancing process.
Evidence suggested he had orchestrated the illicit sale of 75 buildings or development plots since 2021, with victims located in North London, Hertfordshire and Essex.
Following raids across properties linked to Maudhoo, investigators seized a speedboat at St Katherine Docks in London, along with 19 high-value cars, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins.
Officers also found identity documents for several aliases including Vincent Lebeouf, Pascal Burns, Yusef Khan, and Hamid Khan, and discovered that he had been due for deportation to Mauritius in 2010.
It is thought that the criminality earned Maudhoo in excess of £8.5 million, which he spent on funding his lavish lifestyle. Further enquiries are now taking place by ERSOU’s financial investigators using Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.
Earlier this year he was also made subject to the UK’s first INTERPOL Silver Notice, which facilitates locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets such as properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses.
Detective Inspector Damian Barlow, from ERSOU’s Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), said: “Maudhoo went to great lengths to cover his tracks and hide his true identity, causing untold harm to a high number of unsuspecting victims. He was purely motivated by greed, using the proceeds to fund his own lifestyle.
“This was a complex investigation which involved our teams poring through evidence to piece together the sophisticated criminality that had been taking place – the further we delved, the more offences we uncovered.
“It’s a fantastic result that Maudhoo will now be spending an extended period behind bars, and we’ve already turned our attention to identifying any further assets that could be used to compensate his victims."
For further inquiries, contact:
Financial Fraudster News Investigations Team
@FraudsterNews or @therealfinancialfraudsternews or @the_real_FFN
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