St John’s Wood businessman jailed for forging bank statements to procure three Ferrari cars
John Saunders forged bank statements to get his hands on a California T model Ferrari - Credit: PA
A ‘vain’ St. John’s Wood fraudster has been jailed for scamming his way to three top-of-the-range Ferraris.
John Saunders forged bank statements to procure top-of-the-range cars - Credit: Archant
When businessman John Saunders, 46 and of Grove End Road, was unable to secure a financing agreement for a £190,000 California T, he forged bank statements that inflated his assets in order to dupe Ferrari into agreeing.
Southwark Crown Court heard on Friday that Saunders then repeated his dishonest trick in cahoots with Gabriel Kew – a convicted conman he had met behind bars in 2010 while serving a previous spell for fraud.
The pair worked together to forge financial documentation that allowed Saunders to get his hands on a £230,000 F12 Berlinetta.
Six months later, third time proved unlucky for Saunders as he tried to fraudulently purchase a 488 Spider model valued at £250,000. The pair’s plans crumbled when Yew was arrested in a separate case.
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Investigating officers searching through Yew’s Whatsapp messages and emails found incriminating correspondence between him and Saunders. In one series, sent four days before the F12 was purchased, Saunders wrote: “Ferrari want another three months’ statements prior to the one we gave them.”
Yew emailed back the same day with three PDF attachments.
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“Those attachments were three Clydesdale Bank statements that were provided in support of the 14 March application,” said prosecutor Rebecca Foulkes.
Saunders was interviewed by police and admitted doctoring the financial statements.
“This was a series of deliberate, and dishonest submissions of false information supplied over a period of 18 months or so,” said judge Simon Russell-Flint QC, sentencing.
“Whether it was to promote your self-image and satisfy your vanity that you should have three motor vehicles, I just cannot judge. But you have developed a disregard for the law.”
Saunders was jailed for 26 months and ordered to pay £670 costs.
