Thursday 24 April 2014

"Police raid City of London and arrest everybody"

From The Evening Standard:

Police today smashed everything being run from offices in the heart of the Square Mile.

Fifteen thousand smartly dressed office workers were arrested at computer terminals in various offices in connection with a long series of frauds and swindles, which in some cases had been going on for centuries.

Financial advisers and commissioned bank staff were said to have bombarded victims with glossy advertising, meaningless projections and cold calls using similar techniques as those shown in Leonardo Di Caprio's Wolf of Wall Street film.

The fraudsters claimed that their firms would take money from individuals to invest in "tax-efficient savings and investments" while at the same time lending the same individuals the money back again to buy overpriced housing.

In reality, detectives said, there were no tax-breaks, or only a tiny amount that did not match the claims, and it was mathematically impossible for individuals to improve their position by paying a premium to use their own money to try and outbid others who had done the same in order to 'get on the property ladder'.

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