Couple from Kent Funded Luxury Lifestyle Through Insurance Fraud

A couple from Kent who funded a luxury lifestyle through a £340,000 tax and motor insurance fraud have been jailed following an investigation led by HMRC.

Elina Jaksone and Gagik Manucharyan, failed to declare or pay tax on their £920,000 earnings as ‘ghost’ insurance brokers. They spent the money on a £365,000 property, private education, high performance cars and exotic holidays, the court heard.

The couple’s motor insurance fraud involved the supply of false and misleading information to insurance companies, when arranging policies for their clients. Jaksone and Manucharyan contacted insurance companies posing as their clients, providing limited information. This allowed the clients, who were mostly Eastern Europeans in the UK, to buy cheaper policies, but the lies meant policies were potentially void.

The couple pocketed about £100 a time in brokerage fees for each policy they arranged, raising £920,000 in the process. None of this income was ever declared to HMRC.

Jaksone also fraudulently claimed £82,000 in tax credits and pension credits by pretending to be a single mother with high childcare costs. She used her mother’s details to obtain pension credits and winter fuel allowance payments. Attempts to claim pension credits in the name of her father-in-law failed.

David Margree, HMRC assistant director, said: ‘Jaksone and Manucharyan cheated honest, law abiding people, spending their ill-gotten gains on a lifestyle that many of us can only dream of. They also cheated their customers by providing them with inadequate insurance policies. HMRC will not tolerate fraud.’

In court, the judge described the pair as ‘greedy and selfish’. Manucharyan was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each of three counts of insurance fraud, and Jaksone to two years imprisonment for each of three counts of insurance fraud. These sentences will run concurrently.

Both defendants were also sentenced to two years and two months in prison for tax fraud, while Jaksone will serve a further 10 months for tax credits fraud. These sentences will run consecutively to those imposed for insurance fraud. The couple’s property in Kent has been restrained and confiscation proceedings will follow.

“Source: Kent News”