A Berkshire banker who claimed to have terminal cancer and falsified medical documents to scam insurance companies out of £1.2million has been jailed. Rajesh Ghedia, 42, also pretended to be the vice president of Bank of America and scammed seven victims, including his own cousin and a father he met on the school run, on £600,000.

The scams, which date back to 2016, came to light when one of its victims contacted the bank and was told their investment did not exist. Ghedia, who worked at Bank of America but as a program manager in the Global Technology and Operations department, was later interviewed by police in August 2020.

Despite this, he continued to fake terminal pancreatic cancer that would kill him within a year to withdraw money from his pension and claim his life insurance. During his sentencing hearing, he was told he led a ‘lavish lifestyle’, drove ‘high value’ cars and lived in a mansion in Surrey’s exclusive Virginia Water area, where he educated his children privately.

Read more: A Windsor drug dealer gave up his hideout while walking his dog

Ghedia, of Maidenhead, admitted 22 counts of fraud relating to false investments and eight counts relating to the cancer scam. Jailing him today for six years and nine months, Judge Deborah Taylor said: ‘You attacked those who became close to you. All have said what devastation you have caused them. You have shown total disregard for their lives, their health and their reputation. All of them were marked by the meetings with you and they thought that you were their friend and that you helped them.

Southwark Crown Court heard Ghedia convince seven victims to invest just over £600,000 in Bank of America and Goldman Sachs products between 2016 and 2020. Jack Talbot, prosecuting, said the victims had been told that they could double or triple their money in a short period of time. of time.

Saeeda Ahmed, the wife of Ghedia’s regular taxi driver, lost over £100,000 and the couple had to sell their house after borrowing £70,000 to pay bogus taxes Ghedia invented to extract more money from them. silver. The court heard that when Ms Ahmed went to confront Ghedia for not receiving payments, Ghedia fabricated a car accident in the US which left her daughter in hospital.

When she returned to see him, he told her his daughter had died, the court heard. Other victims included his cousin Vipul Chandegra who was defrauded of £63,491, Per Selbekk, a father he met at his children’s school, of £116,664, and Wayne Johncock, a man he met at a block party, £181,599.

The court heard Ghedia then defrauded Legal and General and its pension plans between October 2020 and May last year. He was said to have falsified medical documents and letters diagnosing him with terminal cancer claiming to be from Dr Nick Maisey, a consultant oncologist at a private hospital in central London.

He also forged documents from a Royal Marsden doctor and another from Great Portland Street. As the doctors were registered with the General Medical Council, the funds were released.

Ghedia managed to claim the money and then tried to take out a new life insurance policy with Aviva for over £900,000, claiming he was not receiving any treatment. These frauds came to light when he stopped paying his mortgage and an investigator found he had “stumbled” and wrote a different date of diagnosis on one of his letters.

Judge Taylor said: ‘You used the names and reputations of doctors who were completely unaware of your involvement in this case and that their names were used without regard to their professional status or reputation. This was after you were arrested and questioned in connection with investment fraud. You did not respond to interview warnings about past behavioral infractions. You ruthlessly traded on the reputation of doctors and your position to support your fraud. »

Read more :