Briton jailed for bomb detector scam
- 11 years ago
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
This device described as a bomb detector was supposed to save lives in places like Iraq.
Buyers including the United Nations paid up to $62, 000 a time for it.
In reality it has no working components and is based on a $20 novelty gadget for finding lost golf balls.
British conman James McCormick made more than $40 million from the scam.
On Friday he was starting a ten-year jail term.
British investigators are welcoming the judge's sentence.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) DETECTIVE SUPERINTENDENT NIGEL ROCK, AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE, SAYING:
"McCormick practised a callous confidence trick and he was satisfied from the evidence that in all probability McCormick's device contributed to injury and death in Iraq, to name one country."
The fake bomb detectors were also sold to Niger and Georgia.
The judge who sentenced McCormick told him he'd endangered lives for profit
This device described as a bomb detector was supposed to save lives in places like Iraq.
Buyers including the United Nations paid up to $62, 000 a time for it.
In reality it has no working components and is based on a $20 novelty gadget for finding lost golf balls.
British conman James McCormick made more than $40 million from the scam.
On Friday he was starting a ten-year jail term.
British investigators are welcoming the judge's sentence.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) DETECTIVE SUPERINTENDENT NIGEL ROCK, AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE, SAYING:
"McCormick practised a callous confidence trick and he was satisfied from the evidence that in all probability McCormick's device contributed to injury and death in Iraq, to name one country."
The fake bomb detectors were also sold to Niger and Georgia.
The judge who sentenced McCormick told him he'd endangered lives for profit