We aim to make this site as accessible as possible and therefore have provided the settings below to use if you are finding it difficult to view this website. See the SFO Accessibility Statement for more information.

Where it is appropriate to provide a Welsh translation, you can switch to Cymraeg. See the Welsh Language Commissioner website for more information.

Use the settings button in the bottom right corner of the page to access these settings again.

Change to normal text size A Change to medium text size A Change to large text size A Adjust Text Size

We would like to use Analytics Cookies on our website. 

Turn these on below if you are happy with us collecting information on how our site is used, in order for us to improve the overall experience of our website. 

All other cookies are necessary and therefore by continuing to browse this website, you are agreeing to the usage of these cookies.

 See the SFO Privacy Policy for more information. 

Analytics Cookies

Secure Trade & Title Ltd

On 28 February 2017 D.D.J Edwards at Westminster Magistrates’ Court activated James Pye’s default sentence for failure to repay his confiscation order in full by the given deadline. Therefore Mr Pye was ordered to serve an additional sentence of 339 days. This is due to 26 days being deducted from his one year default sentence as a result of some payments having been made towards his order. The confiscation order amounted to £16,004.72 and £1,471 has been paid to date. Payment was due by 11th August 2013.

On 23 April 2012, Brian O’Brien and Lynne D’Albertson were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for a fraud where more than £4 million was taken from private investors through share-pushing operations based in Spain and Ireland.

Brian O’Brien and Lynne D’Albertson controlled the operation centred on Secure Trade & Title Ltd in Sussex. James Pye, a “boiler room” manager in Barcelona and a further defendant, Damien Rodney Smith, (son of D’Albertson) who managed a boiler room in Limerick, were also sentenced for their involvement in the fraud.

A fifth defendant, John Laurence Curtin (Irish National, DoB 09/02/1976) was extradited from France on 31st October 2013 following the execution of a European Arrest Warrant.  He was sent to Southwark Crown Court on 01st November 2013 and has been remanded in custody since.  He pleaded guilty on 06th March 2014 to one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of breaching the general prohibition contrary to s23 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. 

This concludes a joint investigation with Sussex Police.  Mr Curtin was the last of five defendants to have been convicted of conspiring to defraud investors in this boiler room fraud centred around the operation of an escrow agency, Secure Trade & Title Ltd, based in Sussex.  Mr Curtin worked at the boiler room Black & White Investments SL in Spain and later DML Corporation in Ireland.

Full details of the case progress can be found on our archived website.

If you were a victim of this fraud, please see the compensation section below.

Page published on 27 Jun 2016 | Page modified on 17 May 2021