Posted on August 2, 2015.
This article was posted on The Mirror website
A teenage fraudster who boasted he made £21million on the stock market was jailed today after a judge gave him a wigging over a picture mocking the justice system.
The court was shown a picture of Sam Cook, 18, making an obscene gesture while wearing a mock judge’s wig, sitting beside his grinning father who was wearing a toy policeman’s helmet.
Cook was visibly shaking in the dock as he was jailed for 26 months.
The court heard how Cook told a local newspaper he turned a £2,000 investment from dad Peter into a £21million fortune in just a year – but still shopped at Lidl and wore clothes from charity shops.
Cook claimed he drove a £165,000 Ferrari, splashed out on expensive holidays and antiques and lived in a waterfront apartment. He used the illusion of wealth to convince his parents’ friends and business associates to hand over their life savings for him to invest on the stock market.
Cook repeatedly assured investors the money was making a good return.
But Det Con Dan Parkinson launched an investigation after he read the article and discovered Cook’s ‘£165,000 Ferrari’ was actually a £20,000 replica.
Prosecutor Kelly Scrivener told Plymouth crown court: “ The officer found at least six people who had invested £110,000 of their life savings and earnings.
“They parted with the money under the false impression they were making a legal financial investment with this defendant on the stock market.
“He had a lavish lifestyle, he had what he said was a Ferrari that he was driving around in.
One victim lost £50,000, another man invested £35,000 in Cook instead of paying off his mortgage and a woman handed the teenager £6,200 to invest instead of buying a new car.
Cook, from Okehampton, Devon, admitted six fraud charges and owned up to spending all but £6,000 of the cash funding his own luxury lifestyle.
He told police : “This has had a big effect on my family and completely ruined my chances of getting a job in finance.”
Cook’s lawyer Michael Green told the court: “There are victims that were taken in and handed over vast sums of money. “They thought they were investing in the defendant.
“He is 18 years old, and suddenly found himself with quick money in his bank account and he gave into temptation and spent it. The defendant is now involved in an auction with his father, to raise money to repay his victims. In the grand scheme of things it is a very modest sum, but it is a start.”
Cook also entered a guilty plea to a charge of driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and was given three penalty points.
