A former mortgage broker has been jailed and disqualified from being a director for a second time after committing mortgage and loan fraud.
Cindy Brad from Melton Mowbray illegally obtained £200,000 from banks and lenders and was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud and two counts of acting in breach of her first disqualification order.
Brad was sentenced alongside accomplice Selvi Civi, who was handed a four-month sentence which was suspended for two years after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation.
This was Brad’s second conviction and prison sentence for similar offences having been jailed for 18 months and disqualified for 10 years in November 2009 for theft from clients she was advising and obtaining money by deception. This also drew ban from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
However, upon her release from prison, Brad continued to carry out criminal activities.
She used three different identities to disguise her criminal past and disqualification status enabling her to formally change her name and obtain fresh identity documents.
Brad used one of these different identities and supplied false banking documents to secure a £200,000 mortgage before reneging on the repayments.
The convicted fraudster incorporated several companies enabling her to act as a financial adviser, which was in direct breach of her 10-year disqualification order.
While acting as an adviser Brad also made a fraudulent £100,000 loan application on behalf of and supported by Selvi Civi using false documents.
Brad also made false representations to the disclosure barring agencies in England and Wales and Scotland to secure certificates that would allow her to become an authorised representative of financial services companies.
Previous conviction
As part of the case the court heard that in November 2009 under the name Shruiti Patel, Brad had been disqualified for 10 years and jailed for 18 months, while a confiscation order was made for £13,115.98.
Her offences were committed between 19 December 2004 and 11 April 2006 during which time, she ran a business in Leicester called Mortgage Deals for You and obtained loans and mortgages fraudulently by using the names and data of two of her customers.
She stole £169,000 from various banks and other institutions.
And in December 2020, the FCA made an order prohibiting her from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by an authorised person, exempt person, or exempt professional firm.
‘Sophisticated forgery’
On sentencing, the judge said that Brad had carried out “sophisticated forgery” and that personal difficulties did not justify the fraud carried out.
The Insolvency Service added it intended to recover the proceeds of these crimes.
Glenn Wicks, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Despite having already served time for similar offences, this did not deter Cindy Brad, and the convicted fraudster continued to apply for substantial loans worth thousands of pounds, using a variety of false documents and fake identities.
“Thanks to the joint work between the Insolvency Service, the police and other government agencies, we were able to uncover Cindy Brad’s duplicitous activities.
“The courts recognised the severity of her actions and her three-year sentence should serve as a warning that we will use the full extent of the law to investigate and prosecute fraudsters.”