Fraudster Isle of Man car dealer jailed for £860k scams

A car dealer guilty of £860,000 worth of fraudulent activity has been jailed for nine years and 10 months.

Glenn Cooper, 53, falsely applied for personal loans, failed to hand over car sale cash, and took out stocking loans on cars he sold on or never owned.

Douglas Courthouse heard some of the victims only found out about the outstanding loans when they tried to sell their vehicle on themselves.

Deemster Graeme Cook said the extent of his offending was "outrageous".

The court heard Cooper, who was living in Majestic Close in Onchan at the time, committed 21 offences between November 2017 and September 2019.

In what was described as a "sophisticated" series of scams, Cooper used some vehicles to take out third party loans on cars he did not actually buy or before selling them on to new owners.

That meant that, unbeknownst to those new owners, the vehicles remained the property of the loan company on a stocking agreement with Cooper's now defunct company GMB Automotive Limited.

In some cases, he sold or part-exchanged cars on behalf of customers but failed to pass on the proceeds, or took money for vehicles that were not handed over.

He also falsely claimed to have more than £4m in assets, including property and cars, to secure personal loans of £130,000.

His offending came to light when loan company Cherry Godfrey was contacted by a firm in the UK in possession of a McClaren 570GT Coupe that was subject to one of Cooper's fraudulent loans worth £118,000.

A police investigation found the amount either stolen or appropriated by him coupled with the financial loss he put others at risk of totalled £862,479.

He was arrested in the UK in November 2022 after leaving the Isle of Man and later pleaded guilty to 21 offences of fraud and theft.

The court heard Cooper's victims included the mother of a child with mobility issues who had asked him to sell her Range Rover so that she could buy a "run around" vehicle instead.

After handing the keys to her car over to him in September 2019, she never heard from him again, the court was told.

In a victim impact statement, she said the events had put her into a "downhill spiral financially".

Taking the money off her "may have given him a moment of joy, but it gave me a life of suffering" for years afterwards, she added.

Prosecutors said two large bank transfers to a jewellery firm in 2020 was evidence of lavish spending.

Cooper's defence advocate said the opening of a large car dealership on the island had hit the local used car market and he had originally been trying to keep the small business he was involved with going.

Sentencing him, Deemster Cook said he had used the cash to fund his lifestyle.

The crimes were "so severe" only a custodial sentence was appropriate, he added.

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