Trio Appear On £40m Electrical Contract 'Ponzi' Charges

L to R: Saunders, Steinberg, Strubel

Three men, accused of a £40m ponzi-style plot involving lucrative electrical contracts with prestigious hotels and the Olympic Park have appeared for the first time at City of London Magistrates' Court.

They are: Jolan Marc Saunders, 36, (pic.l.) of  Almonds, Avenue, Buckhurst Hill, Essex; Spencer Mitchell Steinberg, 43, (pic.mid.) of Lodge End, Radlett, Hertfordshire and Michael Strubel, 51, (pic.r.) of Princes Manor, Royal Drive, New Southgate.

The defendants were charged at Hatfield Police Station on March 5 by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which investigated Saunders Electrical Wholesalers Limited.

It is alleged investors were falsely convinced the company had high-value electrical contracts with blue chip hotel chains and with the Olympic Park's Athletes Village.

Favourable interest rates were promised to investors who put money into the company.

All three have been charged with conspiring together between January 1, 2006 and May 31, 2010 to defraud various companies.

Saunders alone faces one count of contravening a company director disqualification order made on January 1, 2001 by running Saunders Electrical Wholesalers Limited between between December 19, 2008 and May 31, 2010.

All three defendants were bailed to Southwark Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on March 19 on condition that they reside at their recorded addresses, surrender their passports and do not communicate with each other.

They were all arrested in December 2010 when the SFO, assisted by officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Met, Essex and Hertfordshire, raided five residential addresses and one commercial premises during Operation Canon.