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County man jailed for bank scam
Michael Shephard
A businessman who admitted his part in a bid to steal almost £18m from a Swiss bank has been jailed.
Lancaster businessman Michael Shephard, 50, was helped by lawyer Kevin Steele, 51, to create the illusion he had a £76.4m personal fortune in two offshore accounts.
The pair used phoney paperwork claiming the money was available as a security with Bank Julius Baer to trick EFG Private Bank into paying out a huge loan.
EFG was told the cash would be used to finance the development of three luxury Turkish resorts where England striker Wayne Rooney and Brazilian ace Ronaldinho wanted to buy villas.
Steele helped dupe the bank into believing “instigator” Shephard claimed he was a “phenomenally successful businessman.”
With the help of a third man, Mark Pattinson, 38, from Longridge, and Steele’s false paperwork, Shephard obtained a loan from EFG of more than £17.5m. Shephard invested half in Turkey and put the other half in the client account at renowned London firm Mischon de Reya - which famously represented the Princess of Wales in her divorce.
Judge Graham Wood QC branded Shephard a “demanding and powerfully manipulative man” who had paraded “as a man of wealth.”
“I have to conclude that you were willing to do and say anything to try...to support your extravagant lifestyle,” he said.
Shephard, of Wellington Road, Lancaster, was jailed for six years, three months. Pattinson, of Sharley Fold, Longridge, was jailed for 18 months on January 9. Both admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and conspiracy to use false instruments.
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Wednesday 22 February 2012
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