Gunned down ... fraudster who ripped off thousands
A BRITISH fraudster who ripped off thousands of investors in a so-called ‘boiler room’ scam has been seriously wounded in a dramatic assassination attempt in Panama City.
Extraordinary footage shows Christopher Burton staggering to hospital after being shot three times as he sat in his car at traffic lights.
A motorbike drew up and the rider or passenger stood in front of his car and riddled his grey Ford Explorer with 11 bullets before speeding off.
Burton, who was hit in the arm and stomach, spent days fighting for his life.
During his hospital stay Burton, from Nottingham, lied to police about his identity. Suspicious officers later matched his fingerprints to Interpol records and discovered that he was wanted for alleged fraud in Spain. He was arrested as he lay in his hospital bed.
As soon as he was out of danger from his injuries, Burton was moved to prison and now awaits extradition to Spain on allegations of ‘money laundering, falsification and fraud against justice administrations’.
The shooting happened on March 16 in Punta Pacifica, one of the city’s most exclusive areas. Police said the hitmen specifically targeted Burton.
In 2009, The Mail on Sunday named Burton – who has used the aliases Chris Kamyczek and David James – as the man behind a ‘boiler room’ share fraud operating in Marbella. The scam involves cold-calling and pressuring investors with bogus offers of fabulous returns. Burton’s Spanish operation, which offered shares in a Nevada oil prospecting company, cost British investors hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Since then he has been running a call centre for Privilege Wealth in Panama. Police suspect the shooting is linked to the business.
Prosecutor Rafael Baloyes said: ‘The crime seems to be a hired assassin settling scores. We are trying to discover the real activities of Burton and the Privilege Wealth call centre in order to connect them to the attempted murder.’
He added: ‘Burton identified himself to police as Noel Donohue and showed us his residence permit but we checked his ID and it was fake.
‘We got in touch with Interpol and they told us he was actually a British citizen who was wanted by Spanish police.’
Panama’s Foreign Ministry said the Spanish authorities were preparing an extradition claim. Privilege Wealth did not comment.