A car crash victim left with brain damage was conned out of his six-figure compensation by City businessmen when he fell for a £180,000 art and diamonds scam, the Old Bailey heard.
David Wright was one of five people said to have fallen for the fraud as they were promised “easy money” in return for investing in luxury goods that ultimately proved to be worthless.
He gave the alleged fraudsters £131,739, losing almost all his payout for the crash that also left him with memory loss.
Another alleged victim, 74-year-old Michael Woods, paid £7,000 and was bombarded with 111 calls over three months in an attempt to persuade him to part with more of his savings.
Two of the gang allegedly even visited him at his squalid Cockfosters flat, where he lived alone, and walked him to a bank so he could withdraw cash for a “special” diamond.
Pensioner Jean Neal lost all her £9,600 life savings after being cold-called and assured diamonds were a better investment than an ISA, the court heard.
The five accused — Ricky Burgess, 26, of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, his brother Michael, 29, Amir Damoussi, 26, and Lucy Murch, 25, all of Southend-on-Sea, and Jimmy Bottle, 27, of Hoo, Kent — deny conspiracy to defraud.
They set up Harrison & Carter Ltd in offices at the Gherkin building and are said to have drawn up a “suckers list” totalling thousands of people to be targeted.
Victims — picked because of their vulnerability — were promised returns of 10 to 20 per cent within a year if they invested in multi-coloured diamonds or art prints of works by noted painter Harry Bilson, it is said.
Prosecutor Charles Crinion said the alleged fraudsters bought diamonds for under £1,000 and pressured clients to buy them for up to four times the value.
“Art and diamonds sound glamorous but this is not a case of men in tuxedos trying to pass off a painting as a lost Monet,” he said.
“They used tactics like cold-calling or persistently calling to get older and vulnerable people to give them their money. They knew their representations were untrue.”
The court heard Harrison & Carter went into liquidation in early 2014 and the gang then set up Globalis Marketing Solutions in nearby Old Broad Street.
It is said they then targeted victims of Harrison & Carter, offering to help them recoup their losses.
Mr Crinion said people were sent formal-looking documents, including brochures, order confirmations, invoi- ces and certificates of ownership.
The gang promised to store the jewels and art at warehouses in Dubai or safe deposit boxes in Switzerland, meaning customers never got to see what they had bought, he added.
Mr Crinion said the defendants claim their investment companies were not fraudulent — “that what happened was just business and they weren’t being dishonest”. The trial continues.