UK pursues fraudster in Sh219m scandal believed to be in Kenya
British authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a convicted fraudster believed to be living in Nairobi after a court in the United Kingdom found he orchestrated a $1.7 million (Sh219.3 million) deception spanning London’s elite finance circles.
Court records show Pritesh Shah, a former bank employee, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in November 2025 on multiple counts of fraud, forgery and perverting the course of justice. He did not attend his trial or sentencing, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
UK Prosecutors said he exploited trust networks, fabricated wealth and used forged documents to secure loans he never repaid in breach of the country’s Fraud Act 2006.
Investigators now believe he may be in Kenya, where bankruptcy filings list a Spring Valley address in Nairobi, raising concerns about cross-border enforcement.
The case originated from a sophisticated fraud spanning London finance circles and extending to Nairobi, where Mr Shah, 54, is understood to have lived in recent years.
Prosecutors say Shah built the alleged fraud scheme on reputation, proximity to wealth, and carefully constructed lies. He operated within tight-knit business and social circles, leveraging trust among wealthy associates and financiers.
At the centre of the case is a pattern with documents showing that he repeatedly portrayed himself as independently wealthy, with imminent access to family trusts, large bonuses, or investment returns that would quickly repay loans.
Those claims were false, according to investigators. They say he borrowed heavily from multiple individuals between 2012 and 2015, often at the same time, while telling each lender a different version of his finances.
One victim, financier Kodwo Mills, loaned Mr Shah $200,000 (Sh25.9 million) in 2012 after being told he would soon access substantial family wealth. Mills said he trusted Shah’s apparent connections and lifestyle.
“I only felt comfortable lending Mr Shah $200,000 despite him asking me for $500,000 (Sh646 million). I didn’t have a written loan agreement in place with Mr Shah because I trusted that I was dealing with someone with integrity and I was convinced that the money I was lending Mr Shah wasn’t a lot of money for him,” Kodwo Mills stated in court. Kodwo is a financier and entrepreneur based in Ghana, the USA and the UK.
Shah repaid only $70,000 (Sh9 million), which prosecutors say likely came from funds obtained from another victim. He then stopped responding altogether.
When pressed, Shah sent Mills a fabricated email purporting to confirm a £100,000 (Sh15.1 million) payment from a Jersey trust company. It was later proven to be a forgery.
The deception deepened within the Oshwal community, where longstanding family ties and business relationships underpinned financial dealings.
Rohin Shah, an investment adviser who had worked closely with Shah’s father, advanced him $1.2 million (Sh155.1 million) through a company, Rossfield Limited, between November 2012 and October 2018.
The loan was based on assurances that Shah would receive a multi-million-dollar bonus from Credit Suisse within weeks.
Evidence showed Shah earned about £70,000 (Sh9 million) annually, with modest bonuses nowhere near the sums he claimed. The court heard that Shah stated that the reason why he borrowed the $1.2 million (Sh155.1 million) from Rossfield was to invest in Invictus Africa, and that the failure of that investment was the reason for his failure to pay back.
Despite signing a formal loan agreement, Shah never repaid the money.
Instead, the court heard that he deployed a cycle of delays and deception. He repeatedly claimed funds had been transferred, citing banking errors, incomplete SWIFT details, or pending confirmations.
On several occasions, witnesses said he provided false payment references and fabricated transfer documents to sustain the illusion of imminent repayment.
In a tactic investigators describe as particularly brazen, Shah even told creditors that they owed him money, reversing the reality to buy time.
A third victim, Swiss financier Juerg Kaempfer, was drawn into the scheme through professional contacts between April 2015 and September 2016.
Mr Shah secured loans totalling $584,000 (Sh75.6 million) using forged documents, including a falsified Vodafone bill to support a prestigious London address and a fake Credit Suisse wealth statement.
He also relied on assurances from his father, who told the lender Shah had millions held in trust.
Across all transactions, prosecutors estimate the fraud exceeded $1.7 million (Sh219.7 million), with evidence suggesting additional victims who have not come forward.
The illusion of wealth was central to the scheme as Shah maintained a lifestyle of luxury, including exclusive golf memberships and expensive travel, which reinforced his credibility among targets.
“He went on expensive holidays, belonged to exclusive golf clubs and appeared to enjoy the trappings of great wealth. It appears that this lifestyle was funded by money defrauded from others without either the means, or the intention, to pay the money back,” the court summary reads.
That lifestyle, prosecutors argue, was sustained using funds obtained from the very people he deceived.
The fraud extended into court proceedings. During bankruptcy hearings in 2018, Shah told a High Court judge, Deputy ICC Judge Schaffer, under oath that he had invested a $1.2 million loan in an African venture, Invictus. This is the money had borrowed from Rossfield.
He claimed the investment collapsed, explaining his inability to repay.
That statement was found to be false because evidence showed no such investment existed, and the fund’s founder confirmed Shah had neither invested nor raised money for the venture.
The court found this amounted to an attempt to mislead the judiciary, forming the basis of a separate charge of perverting the course of justice.
Shah had earlier been declared bankrupt in 2017 following proceedings initiated by Rossfield after years of missed repayments and repeated assurances.
The conviction in 2025 consolidated years of allegations into a formal finding of criminal conduct.
The UK authorities now believe Shah is outside their jurisdiction and have issued an arrest warrant as efforts begin to trace him.
They are seeking his arrest as part of ongoing efforts to recover assets and pursue sentencing, with investigators tracing links to Nairobi as a possible safe haven.
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