Teenage conman caught out by his fake Ferrari

Teenage conman caught out by his fake Ferrari | The Times


  • Sam Cook claimed to have built £2,000 up to £21 million — but his £165,000 Ferrari was actually a kit car based on an old £1,000 FordSWNS



Simon de Bruxelles
Published at 12:01AM, August 1 2015

He drove a £165,000 Ferrari, wore a £120,000 wristwatch and boasted of his love of fine dining — but the teenager who claimed to have the Midas touch playing the financial markets was as phoney as his bright red sports car, it has been revealed.
Sam Cook, 18, of Lewdown, Okehampton, was jailed for 26 months yesterday for paying for his lavish lifestyle with £110,000 entrusted to him by family friends.
Having bragged in his local newspaper that he had turned a £2,000 loan into £21 million by playing the currency markets, it was his fake Ferrari that led to his downfall.
Plymouth crown court was told that, after reading the article, Detective Constable Dan Parkinson decided to look into Cook’s background. He checked the car registration and discovered that the Ferrari F430 Scuderia was, in fact, a kit car based on a £1,000 second-hand Ford.
Kelly Scrivener, for the prosecution, told the court that Mr Parkinson had tracked down at least six people who had parted with money under the false impression that Cook would invest the funds in the stock market. “The police found that he did not have a legitimate business at all, but pocketed the money and lived a lavish lifestyle.”
The six victims invested £110,200 in total — money they could ill afford to lose. One man gave Cook £35,000 instead of paying off his mortgage. Another of the victims lost £6,000 she had been saving to buy a car. In Cook’s defence, Michael Green said he had given in to the temptation of easy money. He made up the newspaper story because he “wanted to make his parents proud of him”, he added. “He is 18 years old, and suddenly found himself with quick money in his bank account and he gave into temptation and spent it. It was a bogus company, it was a bogus investment. It was inevitable that this would come to light, and so it did.”
Mr Green said that both Cook and his father, Peter, were trying to raise money to repay the victims. “The defendant hopes to gain employment, and repay his victims himself.”
Cook’s defence was not helped when one of his victims revealed that after the teenager had admitted six counts of fraud at an earlier hearing, a photograph had been posted online of him dressed as a judge, and making an offensive gesture, with his father alongside him dressed as a police officer.
Mr Green said: “I have spoken to the defendant about the picture this morning, and it is something he deeply regrets. He wasn’t responsible for bringing the props or the photo booth, and was unaware that the photo would be shared online.”
Sentencing Cook to 26 months in prison, Judge Richard Powell said: “You used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle. You had an expensive flat, an expensive car, albeit not a Ferrari. You used money that was not yours to go on overseas holidays, and present an image of success. You should be ashamed.”