A fraudster has been sentenced to prison for defrauding a woman he met on Tinder out of over £140,000. Richard Dexter, 38, of Highland Terrace, Southsea, was charged and convicted of tampering with evidence after committing seven fraud offenses. He was condemned to four and a half years in jail at Portsmouth Crown Court.
He allegedly induced Amrita Sebastian to pay money for a patent list regarded as “total fiction” by the court. Dexter met Ms. Sebastian on a dating app in 2015 and “revealed sensitive information and created trust,” according to prosecutors, and she considered him “reliable and trustworthy” after she told him she had money to invest.
In 2015, he duped her out of £40,000 by claiming to have purchased a patent catalog of biopharmaceutical drugs. He later boasted that he was approaching a £12 million licensing deal with 3M, which he claimed would require a £68,000 initial cost.
Dexter had “no-touch or involvement” with the multinational, according to the company. However, according to the court, despite her terrible condition, the defendant continued to contact Ms. Sebastian in Dubai for money in 2016. Later, police discovered a financial report on his desktop in which he purported to have £4 million in assets.
‘Continuously bragging’
A bogus licensing agreement was uncovered on a USB stick, which was made using a US legal papers website. In addition, Dexter had bragged about his “enormous wealth and possessing a private plane,” according to the court.
The prosecution said a former business partner regarded him as “consistently touting and trying to depict himself as a winner,” with most of his claims being “blatant lies.” Dexter, addressing in court, said: “I’m genuinely sorry, and I’ve been contemplating about it each day for the past seven years. “I’m not sure how I can rationalize what I did.”
When questioned, he stated that the funds were used for “normal day-to-day life” and to pay off a £35,000 debt.
Following a November trial, he acknowledged seven felony counts and was found to be guilty of tampering with evidence and possessing goods for use in fraud. Dexter “barely gave a thought” for Ms. Sebastian, said His Honour Justice Mousley QC.”Dishonesty is undoubtedly a part of your personality – it’s significant,” he continued. He’ll be imprisoned for at least half of his term.