British conman convicted of trying to sell famous Ritz Hotel for $380M in elaborate scam

Put on at the Ritz: Brit conman convicted of scam

LONDON — An unemployed British truck driver was convicted Friday of trying to sell the world famous Ritz Hotel for 250 million pounds ($380 million) to a duped investor.

Anthony Lee convinced potential buyer Terence Collins to hand over a million pounds in 2006. The 49-year-old Lee claimed he was a close friend and associate of Frederick and David Barclay, the billionaire brothers who own the central London hotel.

But the Barclay brothers had never heard of Lee and were unaware he was claiming to be able to sell the hotel. The sale never happened and the money was never returned.

“The deal that sounded too good to be true was a complete fantasy,” prosecutor Anuja Dhir told a jury, which found Lee guilty of obtaining the money by deception.

The scam was “simple but well-targeted and ambitious,” Dhir said.

Prosecutors said that as soon as he got the money, Lee split it with a friend and blew the cash on a spending spree.

Lee, who has had a police warning for theft and was behind with his rent at the time of the scam, said during the trail that he was just a “straight-talking Yorkshireman”.

Judge Stephen Robbins remanded Lee to custody Friday and told him he faced an “immediate and quite substantial” sentence on July 27.