Jewellery salesman who used to wash Lord Sugar’s Rolls jailed for £40k gold con

A jewellery salesman who claimed to have sold watches to Premier League footballers has been jailed for conning an estate agent out of £40,000 and spending the cash on a luxury family holiday.

Jason Shifrin, 48, wrote a book called Money, Money, Money and aspired to be a tycoon like Lord Sugar, whose Rolls-Royce he used to clean.

Now he has been sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for swindling Neil Addington in a gold investment scam.

The men met when Mr Addington, who is also a former police officer, showed Shifrin around a £2 million house in north London.

Harrow crown court was told that Shifrin promised a £15,000 profit if Mr Addington gave him £40,000 to invest in gold. To encourage the agent to go ahead with the deal, he gave him two stones he claimed were diamonds as “collateral”.

However, the gems were in fact zircon and practically worthless, the court heard. Shifrin also made an offer on the £2 million home even though he had no funds to buy it.

The jury was told that after the victim handed over the money, Shifrin took his family on a holiday to Los Angeles and Mexico. The father of two, from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, also bought a Chanel purse for his wife Nicole, 46, at the airport.

Mr Addington alerted the authorities after he heard nothing about his £40,000. Shifrin splashed out on the holiday just days after scamming his victim in December 2016.

The court heard that he claimed to have sold expensive watches to footballers including Jamie Redknapp.

Yesterday Judge Lana Wood sentenced Shifrin for the fraud which forced Mr Addington to sell his home and move his young family into rented accommodation.

The judge told Shifrin at the sentencing hearing in Harrow: “You reeled Mr Addington in. This fraud put a considerable strain on him and his family.

“It was the first Christmas he was to spend with his young family. He had to sell his home and move into rented accommodation. The first Christmas with his young family was ruined.”

The £40,000 was paid into the account of Shifrin’s wife, who was last week sentenced to a two-year community order and 300 hours of unpaid work for money laundering.

The court heard that the victim recovered just over £11,000 of the money, but the remainder had been spent on the holiday and luxury items.

The jury was told that Shifrin had written a book about being hunted and threatened by gangsters after falling into millions of pounds of debt in 2002.

He also wrote about his ambition to emulate Lord Sugar. Shifrin was convicted of fraud by false representation. His wife was found guilty of converting criminal property.