Conman ran up £124,000 bill staying at two hotels Producer had suspicions of cocky ‘hotshot filmmaker’
ABIRMINGHAM film producer has told of his suspicions of a conman who stayed at two top Birmingham hotels for six months, running up £124,000 in bills on a platinum credit card.
Fraudster David Johnstone posed as a wealthy “hotshot filmmaker” in a bid to become involved in the movie world – but the credit card had been cancelled and he had no other place to call home.
The 47-year-old fraudster booked the presidential suite at Park Regis, in Broad Street, and enjoyed free food, drink and facilities, including its gym, business centre and spa.
Johnstone, of no fixed address, had also lived a VIP lifestyle at The AC Hotel in Birmingham’s Mailbox.
Birmingham Crown Court heard how he was clocking up bills of up to £700 per day during the crime spree from June to December last year.
Last week he was jailed for three years and nine months after previously admitting two charges of fraud.
Now Birmingham film producer James Abdou of Spier Films, a production and finance company with offices in Cape Town, London and Reykjavik, has revealed how he met Johnston at the Park Regis.
Mr Abdou said during his time at the hotel, in Broad Street, Johnstone acted like a “hotshot filmmaker with a Wall Street hedge fund” who claimed he could help to finance movies.
He said: “We went to the Park Regis hotel several times to see vari- ous people and he always seemed to be there. We saw him there around October and November time and we always give people an ear because you just never know.
“But Johnstone was arrogant and cocky, giving off an all-American flash vibe – not the sort of person you would want to work with.
“He could talk the talk, couldn’t walk the walk. but “He gave us a 100 million dollar Wall Street hedge fund story and looked us up to see that we were an award-winning company. “Johnstone was always in the bar buying everyone drinks and said he wanted to get involved in one of our films. “He was asking questions like: ‘What’s your hottest project?’ and offered to pay for actors to come to the hotel do to readings of a script. “But we confronted him and said: ‘We don’t know who you are... what value are you going to bring to the table? “We told him: ‘ We are not just going to give you access to one of our films’. “When we asked how he really could help us, he couldn’t substantiate it. “I do know he was trying to meet with a lot of local film people but we knew that something wasn’t quite right and walked away. “We hadn’t heard from him since.” Patrick Sullivan, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court that Johnstone posed as a businessman and hedge fund manager who worked for a Swiss bank.
He had used a cancelled HSBC credit card but “persuaded” both hotels to use a rarely used “override” facility to book in advance on credit.
The Walter Mitty-type character set up home on the lavish presidential suite at Park Regis, a suite previously used by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg when he was filming in the city.
Mr Sullivan said: “He had built up the trust of the people at both hotels. He was very plausible, looked the part, he was a model guest.
“He tipped the staff well, electronically. He was a Platinum card hotel guest and staff had no idea that he was a fraud.”
The hotels only found out about the fraud on December 15 when Barclaycard alerted them.
Johnstone was arrogant and cocky... he could talk the talk, but couldn’t walk the walk. James Abdou, right