Three walk free after scamming luxury car owners out of £720,000

Three men involved in running a fraudulent luxury car dealership which conned customers of £720,000, have walked free from court.

The fraudulent business Mansori Cars, operated out of Warrington's Birchwood Park and targeted dozens of customers by selling high-end vehicles without informing them or handing over the proceeds.

Many victims only found out their cars had been sold when the DVLA notified them of ownership changes.

The three defendants - Paul Roche, Basil Osman, and Mohammed Fiaz - each played a role in the fraudulent enterprise, led by Shahnawaz Fiaz, who remains at large.

During sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court on September 4, it was heard that 41 victims had been identified and were out of pocket to the tune of £720,000. However, the potential loss could have been up to £1.4 million.

Mansori Cars, which started in 2016, offered car owners to sell their expensive vehicles with promises of safety, premium insurance, and quick sales.

“The owners were usually told they would have just as much chance at selling the car in a private sale, and would have a better chance at selling the car with the company,” prosecutor Ben Lawrence told the court.

“They told customers the cars would be on a premium insurance, and that the cars would be kept safely on a private site.”

This all turned out to be lies, with the only valid insurance the company had for the cars was to cover test drives.

The dealership was advertised as dealing in expensive cars and took in some of the most expensive car makes, including Mercedes, Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Ferraris.

However, instead of returning unsold cars or paying for sold ones, the business pocketed the money.

The court heard how Roche, who acted as the nominal owner of Mansori Cars, Osman, who managed customer relations and Mohammed Fiaz who handled money transfers, were all aware of the fraudulent nature of the business.

“A customer, Mr Hussain, had problems getting payments from Mansori for his Mercedes he had sold with them. When he came to the showroom, Osman had arranged for stocky henchmen to come down and intimidate him,” the prosecutor said.

Other customers found that when they had their car returned after the business had failed to sell it, it had been driven and had travelled excessive amounts of miles than when it was first taken in. Sometimes, by the time some cars were returned they had depreciated in value.

Despite some customers successfully pressuring the firm to pay them, many were left severely out of pocket, with some losing more than just the value of their cars.

In court, it was revealed that Shahnawaz Fiaz had a history of fraud. He had been previously jailed in 2018 for scamming customers out of £300,000 through another dealership, SK Performance Cars.

The same fraudulent tactics were replicated at Mansori Cars, leading to the eventual collapse of the business in 2018 when Auto Trader severed ties with the dealership, and Trading Standards began an investigation.

One victim, Brian James, had to withdraw £36,000 from his pension, while another, Lee Hall, had his credit rating destroyed, forcing him to sell his house.

Another, Lee Whitehouse, who never received payment for his sold Mercedes, experienced severe stress, especially since the ordeal coincided with his wedding and his wife’s pregnancy.

During sentencing, Roche and Osman were each handed suspended sentences of around two years and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. Mohammed Fiaz received a lesser suspended sentence of 12 months and was ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.

Shahnawaz Fiaz remains a fugitive with a warrant out for his arrest.