Brother and sister guilty of £5m wine scam

 
Con: Daniel Snelling, 38, and Dina Snelling, 35
Conor Sheils18 July 2013
WEST END FINAL

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A brother and sister who ran a wine investment scam that netted them £5 million were convicted alongside their cousin yesterday.

Daniel Snelling, 38, of Basinghall Gardens, Sutton and Dina Snelling, 35, of Invicta Close, Chislehurst, Kent set up a number of bogus wine companies six years ago.

The brother and sister team duped more than 100 innocent victims into investing in a scam after promising them a huge cash return.

The scam focused on purchasing large quantities of Australian and Italian wine, which was then due to be stored by the pair before being shipped around the world for a profit years later.

The pair hoodwinked clients using a web of lies and false documentation.

When victims pressed the Snellings for evidence of their investments, this wine was moved between accounts to fool them. Many victims were duped repeatedly, police believe.

Only one victim received a return but this was all part of a ruse to get him to reinvest the money.

When investors became suspicious of them, the Snellings used victims’ money to set up a fresh company designed to keep investors off their scent.

The Snellings were in the process of moving to a third company - M2M - when police arrested them in an intelligence-led operation in March 2010.

Daniel and Dina Snelling were convicted of Conspiracy to defraud and converting criminal property.

Their cousin Rebecca McDonald, 43, of Parkside Avenue Bexleyheath, who acted as a Business Development Manager for the pair, was found guilty of converting criminal property and one count of conspiracy to defraud ordered to lie on file.

Rebecca McDonald: acted as the company's business development manager and was found guilty of converting criminal property

They are scheduled to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 9 September.

Detective Inspector Paul Whatmore of the MPS Fraud Squad, said: “This was a callous family-run plot to dupe people out of their cash. The Snellings went to great lengths to fool victims into believing they were offering irresistible and sound wine investments.

“Had we not arrested them, they would most likely have gone on to create any number of additional companies and take many more victims’ money.”

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