Mason Jones (Reporter)
A BRITISH expat accused of conning people out of €6.6 million in an online escort agency and debt-elimination scam has gone on trial this week.
Costa del Sol based Toni Muldoon, 66, allegedly conned people into signing up to act as ‘non-sexual’ companions with the promise of earning up to €700 a day.
Clients paid an upfront fee of over €400 but never received any work.
The former timeshare boss has already pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to defraud but five people he allegedly employed denied any wrong-doing at Ipswich Crown Court.
It has also emerged that various Olive Press stories were mentioned during the trail revealed a BBC journalist covering it.
The group is also accused of laundering millions of euros from the UK to Spanish bank accounts.
One of his codefendants Bradley Rogers, 29, from Fuengirola, is said to have been Muldoon’s right-hand man and received £750,000 into his account.
A string of bogus agencies were set up using names such as AdoraBelles, Beautiful Adults and European Escorts.
The upfront fees were then transferred through a network of false companies and the promised ‘dates’ never took place.
“These cases involve the advance fee fraud,” said the prosecutor.
“You pay something upfront for something you never get. It was a complete scam,” he added.
Muldoon is also accused of masterminding another scam in which the group cold-called people and promised to eliminate their debt.
“People who were caught by this fraud were people who were very desperate,” added the prosecution.
“They had vast credit card debts. They were persuaded to put more money on their credit cards to get rid of debt.
“This fraud is about promising debt elimination that simply does not exist.”
Muldoon is said to have hired former police detective, Christopher Taylor, 57, to launder funds from the fraud through his company bank account.
Also accused in the case is Colin Samuels, 61, Mark Bell, 41, and Geraldine French, 60.
The court also heard that it was Rogers who chose the names for the escort websites and organized adverts in papers such as the Daily Star.
The case is expected to last eight weeks.
Such a shame! Such a good guy to work for! always paid on time and always looked after his staff… and the best part is i never had any contract and never had to pay any taxes in the 5 years i worked for him, grateful now asone the government would of just kept it all anyway.
The good thing is though that the work is still plentiful, one man goes down and the next one moves up the ladder and carries on !
The fools in all of this are the people that pay the money, they should be arrested for stupidity. how we all know now, don’t pay money over the phone.
We all come to work every day and we all know its not straight work, but we have kids to feed and wives to keep and mortgages and bills to pay, and i don’t know many jobs where you can make more than €1000 a week legally anymore. for working just a few hours a day.
There is no crisis in my life, i can afford car i want, go on the best holidays, pay my bills and live in a nice home.
and when the electric company’s, phone company’s, town halls are all stealing from us then you just have to steal as well.
Like the story last week in here about the boss of the junta De Andalusia! Stealing all the money from his own people!! they are all at it!!..
Tony.. thanks for the good life!!.. i shall continue in your honor !!!
Well said Big J. LONG LIVE MULDOON….you deserve a bloody medal for teaching these stupid people a lesson.
I wonder how many of these stupid people would of declared their extra income to their benefits office if the work had been legit NONE. Lesson learned from the school of Muldoon, a great man, hope to see him back where he belong´s on the Costa.
Been trying to work out if these posts by messrs. J and J are ironic. If not you belong in the adjacent cell,if and when, the thieving maggot gets his desserts. Two wrongs do NOT make a right.
Have to agree wit my fellow Js I worked for Toni for over 2 years, the people who paid us are stupid, they are greedy and without exception are all the same. Life goes on, my gratitude goes out to Toni, I have worked for several wannabe Tonis and when it all starts going wrong for them they give up, Toni never gave up, always found a way round a problem and always paid, top man much respect.
Well stefanjo, I think you are right and I wonder how many of the “J’s” are actually “DJ’s”. Plus when Hacienda starts looking, they always eventually find…. they have already looked at the old Tina Tele1 offices. They are getting closer.
Timeshare fraud has been around since the timeshare idea was created, but they increase during poor economy. When times are difficult, timeshare owners are stuck with properties they can´t travel to or even afford. Desperate to recoup some money to pay for bills, they can easily become victims to scams artists pretending to be their timeshare salvation who will take upfront fees -as much as five number figures in some cases- but fail to fulfill their promise.
Yes i must confess i was a DJ. in the early days when Toni had global.
I Did not last to long there, apparently not so good on the mic as on the phone, plus my music choice is one to be desired.
All i can add to this is that if i do not do this job, then someone else will!
I managed to move away from the Costa Del Sol, but i stil keep an eye as to what goes on down there, As for timeshare, we moved out of that a long long time ago.
The likes of Tony Larvin are long gone for that reason !
Or as the sad case may be of Gary Leigh who never got to enjoy his fortunes..
Timeshare Toni does not go on trial, he pleaded guilty earlier this year and it was covered by your paper dated April 15th 2013. Get Your Facts Right, Toni pleaded guilty for a reduced sentence, the other 5 pleaded not guilty, this trial has nothing to do with Toni. Olive Press gets it wrong again…
knew tony when i lived in calahonda AND ALWAYS FOUND HIM TO BE A GREAT FELLOW HAD MANY A DRINK WITH HIM AT CLIVES CHICKEN BAR
Rodders: WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?
What was Rodders nickname again?
Now that Toni Muldoon and company are due sentencing this week, we can turn our attension to Anthony Bartle who took over his scam network
Shame those who worked for Tony Muldoon think he is a good guy.
t toni many years ago in Calahonda where he had a little shop called bits&pcs, a real nice guy had drinks with him at his home and in our timeshare apartment la orquidea, he helped us to change our timeshare from orquidea to barretts leila playa .
Beggars belief to read all these comments supporting the sc*mbag. Sounds as though some of you should be in the dock too.