Robin Price gets six years for spinning his own tall tales to his clients about Hollywood contacts
A literary agent who duped budding authors and investors into handing over more than �500,000 for non-existent film and book deals has been jailed for six years. Robin Price, a former cinema manager from north Devon, claimed he had contacts in Hollywood including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Johnny Depp.
Judge John Neligan told Price, who admitted six counts of theft: "You lived a Walter Mitty lifestyle to persuade decent folk to part with a lot of money on your wild and extravagant schemes which were bogus from the start. I am satisfied that this was fraud from the outset which became more serious and more intricate, to deceive people outlandishly as time went on."
Prosecuting, Andrew Oldland told Exeter crown court that Price, 51, was a confidence trickster: "He targeted would-be writers who wanted their works to be converted into film and TV programmes, or would-be investors interested in putting money into film projects."
But he said Price, of Ilfracombe, lied about his background and his career in the film industry and literary world. "He maintained he knew well-known names in the film industry both on the production and direction side and acting side in the US and UK. He would drop big names such as Spielberg and Scorsese and actors like Sam Neill and Tom Cruise and many others."
But Price, who used to work at a cinema in Leicester Square, central London, grossly exaggerated the extent of his contacts and claimed to his victims that he was on the verge of signing multimillion-dollar production deals.
The main loser was an elderly man so keen to have his work published he handed over almost �300,000 to Price, remortgaging his home and borrowing money to do so. Another victim gave him almost �100,000 because he told her he was on the verge of sealing a multimillion-pound deal for her.
Another woman, who gave up her teaching career to work with Price, said she wanted to kill herself when she found out he had lied to her.
In police interviews Price claimed his efforts were a "genuine attempt to get production deals" and he hadn't misled anyone because they had been aware of the risks of their investments.
Defending, Stephen Mooney said Price was "a broken, destitute, rather sad individual" who lived on �4 a day in a bedsit with his pet cat and dog. He said he had not spent the money on trappings of a successful high life.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/30/literary-agent-conman-jailed
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