Prison for couple who funded millionaire lifestyle by car insurance scam

 
Fraudsters: Manucharyan and Jaksone on holiday in Mauritius, a trip paid for with money they tricked out of their victims
© IR / SWNS
Paul Cheston10 April 2013
WEST END FINAL

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A couple who lived like millionaires through running Britain’s biggest ever car insurance scam have been jailed.

Latvian Elina Jaksone and Cypriot Gagik Manucharyan put their son through an elite private school on the proceeds of the con.

The pair duped hundreds of innocent drivers with a “ghost” brokerage offering cut-price insurance. They posed as the unsuspecting motorists and lied to underwriters about their details and records to secure cheaper policies.

The seven-year scam invalidated the insurance of their victims — mostly east Europeans — and left them exposed with no cover, even though they dutifully paid their premiums.

Jaksone, 36, and Manucharyan, 40, made £920,000 through the fraud by taking £100 commission for each deal. They spent the money on a £365,000 detached house and fees at one of Britain’s most prestigious schools, which the court ruled cannot be named.

They also enjoyed exotic five-star holidays in Jamaica, Mauritius, Mexico and Tokyo and drove “his and hers” Mercedes — one costing £56,000.

The pair failed to pay a single penny in tax, depriving the Inland Revenue of £340,000. Customs officials eventually cracked the con after a lengthy paper chase and intelligence tip-offs.

Jaksone admitted benefit frauds that netted herself and her partner more than £82,000 by posing as a single mother. She also used her mother’s details to claim pension credits and the winter fuel allowance. She was found guilty of three counts of insurance fraud and admitted one of cheating the Revenue and one of tax credit fraud.

Manucharyan was convicted of three charges of insurance fraud and admitted one of cheating the IR. The couple begged Judge James O’Mahoney not to jail them after their seven-week trial at Maidstone crown court, saying they would miss their children. The judge replied: “The misery of being kept from your children is of your own making.”

Manucharyan was jailed for five years and two months and Jaksone for five years and the judge also ordered that the pair be deported on their release.

He described them as “highly intelligent, resourceful people who couldn’t care less” if others suffered financial loss from their crimes. More than 30 drivers told the court they thought the insurance deals were legitimate.

The pair now face a financial investigation to recover some of the cash from the con and their house in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, has been restrained.

David Margree of HMRC said: “They cheated law abiding people, spending their ill-gotten gains on a lifestyle that many of us can only dream of.”

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