Crypto crooks jailed for 12 years for £1.5m investment fraud

Two individuals have been sentenced to a combined 12 years in jail for their roles in a £1.5m crypto fraud.

Raymondip Bedi of Bromley, and Patrick Mavanga of Peckham, ran a fake investment scam which used clone websites and other methods to target investors.

Between February 2017 and June 2019, the pair cold-called victims and sold fake investments in crypto. At least 65 investors were defrauded and lost £1,541,799.

Mr Bedi was sentenced on Friday by Judge Griffiths sitting at Southwark Crown Court to five years and four months and Mr Mavanga to six years and six months.

The FCA said confiscation proceedings are continuing to recover the benefit from the crimes of both defendants.

In sentencing, Judge Griffiths said that Mr Bedi and Mr Mavanga “were both leading players in a conspiracy whereby the victims of the fraud were persuaded to invest in crypto currency consultancy” and “you conspired to drive a coach and horses through the regulatory system.”

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Bedi and Mavanga ruthlessly defrauded dozens of innocent victims, and it is right that they have received these prison sentences. Criminals need to be clear that there is a cost to committing crime and we will seek to make them pay.”

The pair were convicted last November.

Mr Bedi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to breach the general prohibition under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and money laundering offences.

Mr Mavanga pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to breach the general prohibition under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and possession of false identification documents with an improper intention.

Mr Mavanga was also convicted of perverting the course of justice for the deletion of phone call recordings following the arrest of Mr Bedi in March 2019.