A businessman who falsified invoices from major supermarket chains to enable him to defraud Barclays Bank out of almost £9 million has been jailed for three and a half years. He used the money to buy a string of luxury cars including an Aston Martin Vanquish worth £105,000
Nicholas Marcou, 49, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty of fraud by false representation, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.
Go deeper with GlobalData
City of London Police said it was the largest fraud case it had seen this year.
Marcou, from Barnet, ran commodity supplier Abacus Trading Company Ltd for twenty years, and held contracts with supermarkets such as Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
He used his legitimate invoices and contracts from these companies to open lines of credit with Barclays. He then submitted falsified invoices to acquire more credit, known as "fresh air invoicing", to fraudulently extract money from Barclays. Using an HSBC account, he repaid Barclays just enough of their own money to create the appearance that the debts were being serviced.
The rest of the money was siphoned off into a personal account through a sham company called County Foods, and used to fund a lavish lifestyle. He owned two homes worth over £700,000 each, and cars worth £650,000 including three Bentleys, three Aston Martins, a Porsche 911, and a Rolls Royce Silver Spirit.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataThe fraud came to light on July 10 2009, when Marcou accidentally tried to pay Barclays with two cheques from Abacus’ sister company which he had marked as originating from legitimate suppliers. Barclays became suspicious and appointed auditors to investigate.
The "fresh air invoices" were then discovered, which the auditors suggested could leave Barclays with a £4 million debt. The matter was then reported to the City of London Police, which is the National Policing Lead for Fraud.
Police investigations found that the actual loss to Barclays was £8,576,811 and on November 252010 Marcou was arrested by the investigation team at his home address.
His father, Dimitrios Marcou, was pursued in a civil case by Barclays, because he had stood as the guarantor for the business. He sold a home in order to pay Barclays the money he had guaranteed.
Detective Sergeant Lizzie Roberts, speaking on behalf of the City of London Police, said: "Marcou ran a legitimate business which could have been successful for many years, but instead he succumbed to greed and perpetrated a huge fraud. Unfortunately for him, the City of London Police are experts at investigating and prosecuting complex fraud, and he has now lost everything and will be spending a significant amount of time behind bars, proving once again that those who commit crimes will be caught – no matter how well they think they have covered their tracks.
Alex Grant, Head of Fraud Prevention at Barclays, said: "Having discovered payment irregularities we immediately alerted the authorities and have co-operated closely with City of London Police throughout this investigation. We work tirelessly to spot, disrupt and defeat attempted fraudsters, and we welcome the successful conclusion of this case."
Marcou will serve half the time in prison and the other half on licence.
