Godfrey Egbendip promised monthly paybacks of 10% to 15% but they never materialised, the prosecution claim
A Nottingham business owner “exploited” seven victims from the same close-knit community to invest £100,000 in his property company for returns that didn’t materialise, a fraud trial has heard. A jury at Nottingham Crown Court was told how Godfrey Egbendip promised monthly paybacks of 10% to 15% to anyone who put money into his firm but then ignored messages from them when they received little or nothing.
The 59-year-old defendant, of Bestwood, got the victims to sign contracts agreeing to put the cash in which would be invested in letting and managing homes around the city, the prosecution claim. But within months, all of them had lost money and reported it to the police with one message to him saying she “wants her money back, please I am begging you in the name of Jesus Christ”.
Egbendip, of Beckhampton Road, faces seven counts of fraud. He denies all of the charges. Luc Chignell, prosecuting, said the defendant set up a company called UK Property Investment Holdings Ltd, based in Trent South Industrial Park, close to Nottingham Racecourse, in January 2020.
He said: “This case is about a great deal, a really good deal. If you give me £10,000, £15,000, £20,000 to invest in my business I will guarantee you a monthly return of 10% of what you put in.
“So if you give me £10,000, I will guarantee to give you £1,000 per month and you will have that for every month that I have your money. Even better is that you will get your initial investment back so you have nothing to lose.
“While it sounds too good to be true, you can trust me.” Mr Chignell said the defendant offered precisely that deal to seven different individuals, all from the Cameroonian community in the Midlands, who all decided to buy into Egbendip’s scheme between January and May, 2021, and all of whom later went to the police to report their money was gone.
He said: “Seven people all thought they were investing into a lucrative property company with no risk and which would earn them up to £1,000 per month. It was bolstered because it was someone they could trust from their own close knit community.
“We say this defendant used that to exploit them. Seven complainants thought they had nothing to worry about until those seven complainants were something in the region of £100,000 out of pocket.
“The prosecution’s case is that this deal offered by this defendant was not anything to do with property investment. This was a money recycling scheme.
“The objective was not investment or business, it was about getting as many people as he could to give him money he could move it around bank accounts.”
Mr Chignell said the first alleged victim signed a contract to invest £10,000 in return for “a 15% interest return” in January, 2021. He said: “He did not receive a return but, despite that, invested another £10,000 in March, 2021. He did receive £1,500 into his bank account in April but then received nothing at all.”
The prosecutor said another investor also put £10,000 forwards but, by June of 2021, sent an email to the defendant questioning why he’d received no return after four months. In it he said: “You don’t answer my phone calls, I hope to receive these funds in the next 48 hours or I will go to the police.”
Mr Chignell said a third complainant invested £20,000 in March, 2022, and received 10% return back after a month and so recommended it to two friends who also later invested. He said: “After May’s repayment, she received nothing. The defendant received a message (from a third party) saying ‘she wants her money back, please I am begging you in the name of Jesus Christ.
“‘The bible says money is the root of all evil’. Within a tight-knit community, religious beliefs can be used.
“By late June, 2021, when the police became involved, he got back in contact with the complainants in more desperate terms saying his accounts had been frozen and he could not deliver the returns they were entitled to. The prosecution says these contracts were always wholly unachievable.
“It was always going to end this way.” The trial, which is expected to last seven days, continues.