‘I’m not me. I’m my younger brother.’

A crooked investment boss who pretended to be his younger brother in a massive Ponzi fraud has been jailed for 12 months.

Clint Canning, 43, called himself Christian Beauchamp after he was disqualified from acting as a company director for nine years.

He received the ban in 2017 after his business Quantum Satis Investments Ltd was liquidated owing £1.1m to another company.

Beauchamp began trading as the sole director of new company Alpha Nova Capital Limited under his new name on 6 June 2019.

But when he was asked by an investigative journalist if he was Canning, the conman claimed Clint was his younger brother.

Southwark Crown Court heard Beauchamp convinced two people to invest £185,000 on the promise they would get a return for their investment – but never paid them back.

Wearing a navy blue suit over a purple tie, Beauchamp admitted breaching a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

Dominic Connolly, prosecuting, said: ‘This matter came to light after information was recovered that Mr Beauchamp, formally Mr Canning, was acting as a director under the name of Mr Beauchamp under a company called Alpha Nova Capital Limited.’

He said Mirror fraud investigative journalist Andrew Penman became aware of a bond rates comparison website called topbonds.net/ANC after coming across an add on Google.

The company promised return on investments from 8% and when Mr Penman responded, rather than being offered a selection of bond options – Beauchamp gave him a call.

Mr Connolly continued: ‘The journalist Mr Penman decided to investigate further and carried out checks on Mr Beauchamp that showed no social media presence.

‘Open source research showed that he was listed on Linkedin as company manager.’

Beauchamp’s LinkedIn profile showed he had worked as an equities trader at Goldman Sachs and as a portfolio manager at Coronation Fund Manager.

Both companies confirmed they had never heard of him, the court heard.

Mr Penman spotted Beauchamp and Canning shared the same birthday on Companies House and found their photographs shared an eerie resemblance.

He challenged Beauchamp and asked him if he was Clint Canning.

Beauchamp later showed up at Mr Penman’s home insisting Clint was in fact his younger brother.

Mr Connolly said: ‘He turned up at Mr Penman’s home address introducing himself as Christian holding up a driving licence and passport but not allowing Mr Penman to have a closer look.

‘Mr Beauchamp was insistent that Mr Clint Canning was his younger brother.

‘Mr Beauchamp phoned the following day and repeated that Clint Canning was his younger brother. He offered to set up a Zoom meeting with his mother. That never took place.’

When Beauchamp was arrested on 11 March at his home – a £1m six bedroom detached farmhouse in Dunmow, Essex – he introduced himself to City of London Police officers as ‘Christian Beauchamp also known as Clint Canning’.

Max Mills, defending, said: ‘This is not a fraud case the prosecution are entitled to bring that and they have not.

‘Of course I have to address to some extent Mr Beauchamp’s interactions with the journalist.

‘He explained that the reason he went to see Mr Penman’s house and said what he said was because he panicked and he didn’t want to lose what he had.

‘Mr Beauchamp committed this offence out of deep desperation to provide for his family.

‘It wouldn’t be right to describe him as an dishonest man because of the decade of him being honest.

‘The period of compliance is longer than the period of breach.’

Judge Martin Griffith interjected: ‘This is not a short and inadvertent offence committed by him.

‘He is a dishonest man through and through.’

Passing sentence, the judge told the shamed former company boss: ‘The money was used by you for all sorts of things, none of which represented an investment.

‘It was committed over a long period of time and It was entirely for your personal gain. You are the person who was running this, you are the person who was getting the money.

‘People who are in your position who breach these orders and do so in the way that you have done fit the guideline of immediate custody.

‘Custody is a deterrent and that is what is needed in this case.’

Beauchamp, of High Easter Road, Dunmow, Essex, admitted breaching a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £140.
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