«Breaking News» David Beckham’s former brother-in-law jailed after boiler room scam

Darren Flood, 39, (pictured outside Kingston Crown Court yesterday) has been jail for fleecing investors out of £800,000

David Beckham's former brother-in-law has been jailed for nearly three years after fleecing investors out of £800,000 in a boiler room scam.

Darren Flood, 39, was among seven  conmen jailed for a total of more than 20 years after using Flood's links to the former England player to gain trust of pensioners before tricking them into making 'worthless' investments.

The group cold-called unsuspecting members of the public, mainly the elderly, and persuaded them to invest thousands of pounds in practically worthless materials, falsely promising big returns.  

Flood - who was married to Victoria Beckham's sister Louise Adams from 2009 until 2014- was a director of The Commodities Link, based in Canary Wharf, which focused on 'high net worth clients' and discussed potential targets including former Chelsea footballer Joe Cole's father.

They persuaded at least 24 people to invest in rare metals such as barium, saying they were the materials of the future which could be sold to tech companies for big returns, the judge sitting at Kingston Crown Court was told.

They defrauded 24 victims out of almost £810,000 over the course of two years.

Gennaro Fiorentino was the leader of the firm. Jonathan Docker and Darren Flood - who was married to Victoria Beckham's sister, Louise Adams - were second and third in command.  

To outsiders The Commodities Link looked to be a legitimate consultancy firm, complete with active social media accounts and a stylish marketing video promoting it as 'a truly global company.'

Ex-wife Louise Adams, pictured together, described him as a 'wonderful father' in a character statement read at court yesterday

Articles and videos shared on TCL's social media channels vaunted rare earth metals as the next big rapidly growing market.

During their trial, it was revealed that salesmen at the firm, most notably the ringleader Paul Muldoon, had made much of Flood's link to the Beckham's to give the company a veneer of legitimacy.

Joanna Hardy, defending Flood, said the much talked about Beckham link could be put down to an 'accident of love' and the 40-year-old had never personally used his connection to Ms Adams as part of the fraud.

Flood was married to Ms Adams, aged 41 years, between 2009 and 2014, and they have an eight-year-old daughter.

Ms Adams was reported to be 'in bits' when the marriage ended. She wrote a letter to the court describing Flood, from Hertfordshire, as a 'wonderful father.'

In the character statement read at court, south west London, Louise Adams said Flood undertakes many of the hands-on activities of his eight-year-old daughter's day-to-day life.

Joanna Hardy, defending Mr Flood, told the court: 'Mr Flood had the accident of love to blame for his link to the Beckham family.' 

Reading from the character statement, Mrs Hardy also said: 'I don't intend to read it all but your honour will note that she writes in great support of her former husband and father he is. 

'She indicates that the little girl spends her time living 50:50.

'She describes Mr Flood as a wonderful father. She describes him as undertaking many of the hand-on activities of the little girl's day-to-day life.

'She quite understandably as a mother indicates the concerns she has on the impact of Mr Flood's incarceration will have on her at that age.'

The conman (pictured outside court yesterday) encouraged victims to buy 'rare earth' substances, which are mainly used to make tech products, with the promise of big profits

She added: 'Mr Flood's best personal mitigation is this, he is a father of a eight-year-old little girl.

'She spends half of the week with her mum and she spends half of her week with her dad.

'He take her to school, he takes her to her activities, he is by all accounts an active and doting father.'  

The court heard how Paul Muldoon Muldoon became the main salesman at The Commodities Link, who 'sold' the worthless rare earth elements to unsuspecting clients by dazzling them with all-expenses-paid dinner dates in Canary Wharf. He pleaded guilty to fraud on March 9 2018.

Evidence from witnesses showed he had wined-and-dined victims of the fraud, including an 88-year-old woman who he showed the fictional Trading Floor at TCL and even took her to a solicitor. 

She was so thoroughly duped by the sham that she handed her bank details to TCL office manager Vikki King, aged 39 years, a previously convicted benefit fraud, so transctions could be processed more easily.

Staff at Flood's company 'made great play on their boss being David Beckham's brother-in-law' to win the trust of investors, Kingston Crown Court heard

Led by Muldoon, the conmen at TCL took £19,243.28 from the woman before the entire operation was brought to light when she tried to transfer a further £100,000 over to them and her bank manager became concerned.

The 34-year-old, of Basildon, Essex, wore a cream Ralph Lauren jumper over a pink shirt. He wore another brown jumper tied Ivy League style around his neck. 

His glasses were clipped on to his jumper's collar and he wore his top button pen with no tie.

The had been extradited from Spain in January 2018 after his wife, Rebecca Muldoon, was found dead in the sea close to Marbella in January last year. 

She drowned the day after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse. He was jailed by Spanish authorities following the allegation made against him by his wife.

In a letter to the judge during sentencing, Muldoon spoke of his addiction to drugs and gambling in 2013 and mental health issues including being a borderline psychopath and having a split personality disorder, ADHD, and OCD. 

The court heard he had a previous conviction for two offences of fraud, where he had been jailed for 18 months in total at Basildon Crown Court on November 4 2010. 

A seventh man is due to be sentenced this afternoon.  

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https://hienalouca.com/2019/01/11/david-beckhams-former-brother-in-law-jailed-after-boiler-room-scam/
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Darren Flood, 39, (pictured outside Kingston Crown Court yesterday) has been jail for fleecing investors out of £800,000

David Beckham’s former brother-in-law has been jailed for nearly three years after fleecing investors out of £800,000 in a boiler room scam.
Darren Flood, 39, was a...

It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.

Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.

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