Fraudster jailed for £1m refugee hospital scam
AFRAUDSTER has been jailed after he took a £1m loan meant for humanitarian work and spent it on motorbikes and and cars.
Keith Morgan, 61, convinced a New York City-based investment manager the money would be spent to set up a mobile field hospital for refugees.
At the time Morgan, a disqualified company director, was living on benefits in a rented house near Pontypridd.
He told would-be investors he was a successful investment specialist who had dealt with billion-pound transactions and owned prime real estate in Hollywood where he planned to build and sell homes worth $50m (£38m).
One investor in the US was taken in by Morgan’s lies, and handed over £998,900, thinking it would be used to help set up the mobile hospital.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Morgan immediately laundered the money and made a number of extravagant purchases, including a £68,000 Jaguar and two motorbikes costing a total of £17,000.
Prosecutors said £10,000 went into his wife Lorraine Morgan’s personal account and about £12,000 went in restaurants and on other purchases.
The court heard he spent nearly a quarter of a million pounds, then made cash offers on two properties – one for £345,000, and the other for £150,000.
South Wales Police began investigating Morgan when his bank alerted them about the large sum of money deposited in his account.
The court heard the money came from Wa’el Chehab, an investment manager based in New York, running a business called Cedar Capital Management.
Prosecutors said he was previously vice president of Citibank in New York, but set up an investment fund intending to trade global commodities, such as oil and currencies.
Mr Evans said he deals in large amounts, with the minimum he generally accepts from his investors being half a million dollars.
The court heard Morgan gave a “persuasive pitch” and Mr Chehab ended up giving him a short-term loan of nearly a million pounds.
Morgan had pretended that the money was needed for buying field hospitals from Turkey for humanitarian aid work.
Prosecutors said the defendant stated he was the owner of the best piece of land in Hollywood and was going to build and sell $50m homes.
Morgan said he was in direct discussion with Tom Cruise about a house purchase, but said he would probably turn the actor down as he wanted “higher end people”.
After his fraud was exposed, he later sparked a major armed police incident by threatening to harm himself with a large hunting knife in the foyer of the ITV studios in Bute Place, Cardiff Bay.
He was arrested and yesterday was found guilty of fraud and two counts of money laundering.
Opening the case at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Timothy Evans said: “The defendant is a confident and brash, at times convincing, conman.
“It must have been as if all his Christmases had come at once and he set out to spend it. Within a short time, that money started to flood out.”#
In her sentencing remarks, the judge said: “It is clear to me that you are a complete fantasist.”
Morgan, from Cwrt Yr Efail, Church Village, Rhondda Cynon Taff, was jailed for eight years and eight months.
Approximately £750,000 from his fraud has been recovered.
After the sentencing Detective Constable Neil Richards said: “This was a long and complex case but which had at its core a relatively simple concept – a persuasive conman who managed to obtain, fraudulently, a huge sum of money which he then attempted to spend.
“We are pleased that the majority of the money has been recovered, although work will continue to attempt to get the remainder back as well.
“I want to pay tribute to colleagues in South Wales Police as well as the banks involved, and partners across the world, who have helped us pursue this investigation.”