Jersey Mutual fraudsters slapped with confiscation orders totalling £650k

Friday 12 April 2024

The former general manager who masterminded a major fraud at one of the island's oldest and best-known insurers has been found to have benefited by around £4.5m from his crimes – but only a fraction of this sum has been able to be recuperated.

Roy Anthony Jeanne (73) – who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for his crimes against Jersey Mutual – was this week ordered to pay £510,000 by the Royal Court.

Meanwhile, his associate Michael John Timms (74) was ordered to pay £144,000.

Jeanne held the top role at Jersey Mutual Insurance Society, whilst Timms was a commercial tenant of the insurance company.

Pictured: Roy Jeanne was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment in January.

As Jersey Mutual's long-term supplier of marketing services, Timms helped Jeanne defraud the insurance company by falsifying invoices in return for lucrative contracts with the firm.

It was thought that Jeanne stole in excess of £3million from Jersey Mutual, whilst Timms received £160,000 for his role.

Confiscations ordered

Following their sentencing in January, a confiscation order was sought by the Crown and a hearing set for April 2024.

However, following a hearing in the Royal Court this week, it has now been determined that Jeanne alone benefited by more than £4.5million from his crimes – but that the actual amount able to be confiscated was around just £510,000.

He will serve an additional three-and-a-half years in prison if he does not pay. 

Meanwhile, Timms was found to have benefited by £144,870 – and was ordered to pay back the full amount.

He will serve an additional two years in prison if he does not pay. 

Timms was also ordered to pay a £10,000 in costs.

Both defendants were given 12 months to pay.

Jeanne a "lifelong and avid gambler"

At the sentencing earlier this year, Jeanne was described as "a lifelong and avid gambler", and used the fraudulent funds to fund this habit.

By 2017, the former General Manager had gambled over £5.4m and secured winnings of over £3.2m.

Pictured: Jersey Mutual's former office, where the business was based at the time the investigation launched.

He also used the money stolen from Jersey Mutual to pay off the mortgage on his Spanish villa, 'Casa Jeannie'.

Meanwhile, Timms used his share to maintain the lifestyle he was accustomed to.

Jersey Mutual "pays for everything"

In an email sent to his wife in 2016, Timms explained that Jersey Mutual “pays for everything”.

The sentencing of Jeanne and Timms follows a lengthy and complex financial crime investigation named Operation Lavender.

The criminal investigation was launched at Jersey Mutual in 2018 after a suspected fraud spanning years was uncovered.

Pictured: Timms helped Jeanne with the fraud by falsifying invoices. 

'Operation Lavender', as the investigation was labelled, saw specialist financial investigators, supported by forensic accountants, investigating offending by Jeanne and Timms across a 13-year period.

Jeanne was charged with and pleaded guilty to three counts of larceny servant, falsification of accounts, money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud which amounted to £3.3 million.

Timms was charged with and pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Following the confiscation hearing this week, Detective Inspector Quenault of the Joint Financial Crime Unit, commented: “These confiscation orders reflect the seriousness of the offending and the States of Jersey Police, The Law Officers Department and the Courts are committed to ensuring that in addition to lengthy custodial sentences, illicit criminal gains will be identified and confiscated from those that seek to benefit from the loss of others.”