Mortgage broker and estate agent admit £1m BTL scam

Three men, including a financial adviser and an estate agent, have confessed their involvement in a buy-to-let property scam worth more than £1m.

Mark Lenton Jopson (pictured), who ran Lancashire-based Mark Jopson Financial Services, and estate agent Raymond Abramson both admitted conning investors from Ireland into purchasing around 21 homes in Burnley and Pendle, reported the Lancashire Telegraph.

The third accomplice was John Edwards, an associate of both Jopson and Abramson.

According to the FSA register, Mark Jopson Financial Services was, for a short period late in 2005, an appointed representative of now-defunct mortgage and general insurance network Prestbury Financial.

Prosecutor Andrew Nuttall QC told Manchester Crown Court how investors from Ireland were tempted with the promise of purchasing properties with guaranteed rental income.

The trio also made false promises about the extent to which the East Lancashire homes had been refurbished, tenant availability and mortgage funding.

Nuttall added that while some refurbishments of the 21 properties had taken place, they were ‘inadequate’ for some of the homes.

The estate agent, Abramson, masterminded the scam, which he ran under the pseudonym Trevor Smith.

He allegedly recruited Jopson to help with arranging the mortgages and bringing in Edwards to help.

Greater Manchester Police’s serious and organised crime unit began an investigation into the trio’s activities between January 2005 and September 2008, leading to their arrest and subsequent guilty pleas.

The three men all admitted conspiracy to defraud, and have been remanded on bail for pre-sentence reports until 28 November 2011.