BT manager admits to Google scam
19 May 2004
A BT business development manager has admitted to swindling rich New Yorkers out of almost $3 million (£1.7 million) by pretending he had access to shares in the forthcoming Google flotation.
Dutchman Shamoon Rafiq, who worked in New York, spent $350,000 of the cash during a three-month spree on strippers, expensive watches, plush hotels and top restaurants.
Mr Rafiq began meeting investors in New York last year after rumours of an initial public offering by Google surfaced. He told them he was a venture capitalist and college friend of the company's founders and could access "preferred stock" at just $12 a share.
At least five investors, including a lawyer for a European telecommunications company, an investment banker, a senior brokerage executive, and the chairman of a global telecom firm transferred $500,000 into Mr Rafiq's bank accounts and agreed to invest a total of $2.8 million.
He could face up to five years in prison for wire fraud under the terms of his agreement with prosecutors. Prosecutors are opposing Mr Rafiq's request to serve his sentence in the Netherlands.
The Google IPO is the most eagerly anticipated event in the technology sector in many years, after the search engine announced plans to join the stock market last month. The company aims to raise $2.7 billion through the sale of shares and is estimated to have a market value of $20 billion. The shares will soon be made available by public auction.
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