Ritz Hotel in London. Photo: Alesya Belaya

Five years in prison for the sale of Ritz

In the UK court convicted fraudster who tried to sell one of the most famous hotels in London - Ritz, reports BBC.

A man, who wanted to sell the most luxurious hotel in London, is Anthony Lee. Anthony Lee, an unemployed driver, 49 years old, managed to persuade a private investor Terence Collins that he represents the interests of hotel owners - brothers-billionaires Frederick and David Barclay, who are known for their solitary way of life. An enterprising businessman called the price for the Ritz in London - 250 million pounds. Vowing to solve the problem with selling in the near future Lee received as a guarantee the transaction of 1 million pounds. The loan of one million pounds Terence Collins received in one of the Dutch banks. He told the bankers that the details of the transaction for the purchase are not disclosed as Barclay wants to sell the Hotel through third parties.

Investor transferred money to Lee in 2006, but the deal wasn’t fulfilled, and he was forced to go to the police.

Subsequently, the Barclay brothers said that they had never been familiar with Anthony Lee and did not entrusted him conducting of transactions on their behalf.

Police arrested Lee in June 2010. After the investigation and reviewing of the case the English court decided to sentence Anthony Lee to prison term of 5 years for fraud. This scam has been one of the biggest frauds of recent times in Britain. In addition to Anthony Lee in its organization took part other people.

As for the billionaires Barclay, today their names appeared in the news bulletins of British newspapers on another occasion. Sale of 10% stake of Barclay in one of the largest hotel chains in the world - InterContinental - was the cause of the fall of the shares of this company for 7,5%.

Date: 31/07/2010