A fraudster who posed as a successful businessman to con a millionairess he met on Tinder into handing him £141,000 has claimed he was ‘forced’ to plead guilty by his solicitors.
Richard Dexter 38 of Portsmouth (Hampshire) allegedly claimed to be a “successful businessman” and told victim Amrita Sebastian he would make a huge fortune.
She was allegedly informed by him that he has patents on valuable biopharmaceutical tech and that major multi-nationals (including 3M, an American medical company) were interested in signing a deal worth multimillions of pounds with him.
Ms Sebastian, a Dubai-based executive, handed over a series of payments totaling £141,000 believing they were investments.
Dexter is alleged to have kept the cash and devised a number of absurd excuses as to why he wouldn’t repay her.
Dexter admitted to fraud seven times at an earlier crown court hearing. But, now he claims he did it ‘unwillingly.
Richard Dexter (38), of Portsmouth, Hampshire pleaded guilty at an earlier crown court hearing to seven charges of fraud – however, now insists that he did it ‘unwillingly.
Amrita Sebastian (pictured below) was allegedly told by Dexter that he promised Amrita Sebastian a “big windfall” and other significant sums. He had just revealed to her that he owned the patents to valuable biopharmaceutical tech.
SDexter, appearing in court today has drastically retraced his steps and now claims that he was “forced” to plead guilty following the death of David Melville Walker (75), who died in October 2020.
Two more allegations are being brought against the self-described Bitcoin investor currently in court.
He told jurors Tuesday that he was not a fraudster.
According to him, Mr Melville Walker worked on his case for 3 years. They met once a week and he claimed that crucial documents couldn’t be found after Melville Walker died.
He stated that he didn’t agree to enter guilty pleas.
“I was unrepresented by his firm and he had no one to represent me. My files were lost.”
According to him, he claims that the solicitors who he had instructed following Mr Melville Walker’s death forced him to confess to his guilt and that he is now requesting to abate his guilty pleas.
Robert Bryan, Prosecutor, stated that the solicitor was not in court with you and the defense counsel did not have a gun to his head. He said, “You voluntarily said those words.”
He said, “After six years being investigated I decided to follow the advice of a solicitor.
Dexter had pleaded guilty before to seven fraud counts and was not guilty of one count for possessing an article in fraud.
“They made me confess guilty. The forceful opinion of the legal representative was what I used to support my decision.
You can be sure that I will not accept any more forceful or strong advice.
“I discovered that my solicitors didn’t find the crime the day after I had pleaded guilty.” [final licensing]It was missing from the document.
“They didn’t see a shred of any of my defense evidence, and they made me plead guilty on the basis only evidence from the prosecution.”
Dexter was challenged by Bryan to clarify whether he will call the attorneys involved in his case as witnesses. Dexter stated that he does not.
Dexter has been accused of forging patent papers to “wheedle out” of his fraud.
Maisie Evans, his ex-partner, was accused of forging the licensing agreement contained in a USB Stick. She claimed that she altered the document with fake investors names, one even similar to Ray Charles.
Three finalized licensing agreements that would have proven he purchased the patent in good faith cannot be seen or heard by the court, he said.
According to him, the one he lost was one with his lawyer. He also said that one of them was on a stolen laptop while he was attending a concert in 2019. The other one is currently in an Arizona storage facility.
He is also accused of producing a financial investment document which made it look like he had £4 million – he admits ‘falsifying’ it but claims that wasn’t fraudulent as it was just a working document.
Dexter denies being the owner of an article which was fraudulently used and is perverting the course or justice.
The trial is continuing.