Crime reporter(wp/es):::
Three rogue directors of “London’s worst letting agency” who scammed their customers out of more than £100,000 have been jailed.
Mohammed Rayn Mashuk, 42, Mohammed Ibrahim Ali, 37, and Ahmed Ali Syed, 37, pocketed rent payments and deposits while running Crestons agency, fobbing off landlords and tenants who tried to retrieve their money.
One couple’s honeymoon was ruined as they battled with Crestons over £8,400 of missing rent, while other victims were forced to instruct lawyers to fight for their money. One family lost £25,000 after hiring the firm to rent out a property, eventually going to the High Court to wind down the company.
Yesterday at Blackfriars crown court, Judge Jane Sullivan sentenced the three men to two years and four months each in prison, and banned them from acting as company directors for the next eight years. “You each played a leading role, abusing the trust and responsibility placed in you,” the judge said. “This was deliberate reckless trading conducted over a sustained period.”
Prosecutor Richard Heller said £105,000 was taken from at least 19 victims who hired Crestons through its offices in Camden, Islington and Spitalfields. He said a series of “phoenix” company names were used to keep the scam going between 2013 and 2016, so that when one had to be shut down another identical operation would spring up. One couple’s battle with Crestons “coincided with getting married and having to deal with matters while on their honeymoon”, Mr Heller said.
An online review called it “the worst agent in London” and the agents “bullies” who “used threats of eviction and intimidation”.
Mashuk, from Barking, Ali, from Southall, and Syed, of King’s Cross, were all convicted of fraudulent trading after a trial. They will also face confiscation proceedings to recover the money.
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