Latest news with #conman
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Walter Mitty' actor who starred in The Crown is convicted conman who posed as Army officer with fake medals to get into military dinners
A 'Walter Mitty' actor who claimed to have starred in Netflix 's The Crown has been exposed as a convicted conman who posed as an army officer. James Edward Yeates, 42, claimed to be a reservist Captain in a crack unit within the British Army's intelligence corps, sharing pictures online in full uniform and sporting a chest full of medals. He even appeared to have taken part in a mess function at the Honourable Artillery Company's base in London alongside other veterans and serving personnel. Having founded Military and Aviation Advisors (MAA) Ltd in August 2023, Yeates boasted online about being a 'LAMDA-trained actor, armed forces officer, and skilled pilot'. But LAMDA has told MailOnline they have no record of him being a student. And defence insiders say there are no records of him having ever served in the military. He has now been accused of 'a despicable act of stolen valour' amid claims he tried to dupe film firms into hiring him as a 'military advisor' with his fake army career. A gushing post on MAA Ltd's Instagram account read: 'James brings a dynamic blend of talents. Collaborating closely with industry leaders, James crafts authentic scenes by seamlessly blending creative artistry with military and aviation experience.' It adds: 'With James leading the way, MAA guarantees a fresh level of authenticity and storytelling for your project.' But he has today been exposed as a liar, masquerading as an intelligence chief, after his tale unravelled under scrutiny from the Walter Mitty Hunters Club, a secret network of former soldiers who unmask dubious military claims. According to Walter Mitty Hunter's Club, when they approached him, he signed off his email with 'Major James Yeates, Co-Founder, Military and Aviation Advisors.' The Walter Mitty Hunters Club said no records existed for Yeates in the London Gazette, which publishes honours and awards for gallantry and meritorious service in the armed forces. After checking with dozens of sources across a number of military intelligence units, the group added that 'nobody had ever heard of him'. 'Checks were carried out by multiple sources and everyone came back with a nil return,' the group said. 'Not one mention of his name on anything, no one from the military intelligence (MI) world, regular and reserve could find him, more importantly, no one knew or had heard of him and going by his medals he would have at the very least served for around 19 years to have earned the QJM which he's wear's on his mess dress. A spokesman added: 'The Army is small and the MI world very small, someone would have known of met him, but not a whiff of existence in the corps, or the wider pool. Yeates also claimed his firm, MAA, had worked on the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but there is showing their involvement. LAMDA confirmed Yeates had not attended any of its courses and that 'no conclusive proof' existed he had been a student with the institution. Yeates, of Dorking, Surrey, dodged jail in 2006 after he took more than £20,000 from customers' bank accounts after his company collapsed. He splashed £22,650 in just three days and later admitted using criminal property and transferring criminal property at Guildford Crown Court. A previous indictment of 30 counts relating to theft was left on file. Yeates was later jailed for 12 months in May 2015 for fraud after spending £7,700 on a credit card that did not belong to him. He bought first class flights to Los Angeles to shoot a video which he hoped would encourage influencers to join his YouTube network Jey Management. Speaking to The Sun, Yeates said: 'Some comments I've made in the past may have been misunderstood or taken out of context. 'My focus has always been on working professionally and in good faith.' He added: 'At no point have I intentionally misled anyone, nor have I attempted to benefit professionally from any misrepresentation.'
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
House of Games review – Richard Bean hustles David Mamet's movie tricksters
1987 was the year of the conman. Donald Trump wrote The Art of the Deal, or at least had his name on the cover, and the playwright David Mamet made his film directing debut with House of Games, a thriller in which Mike draws Margaret, a psychotherapist, into his world of tells, bluffs and long cons. For the stage adaptation, Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors) has retained the plot while surrounding Mike with a more broadly comic posse whose charms are exhausted long before their stage time. The locations have been reduced to a manageable two. Occupying the upper half of Ashley Martin-Davis's set is Margaret's office, crisp and bright but occasionally lined with noirish stripes. Beneath the office – and very much the id to its ego – is the dingy bar where Mike and his crew mount the elaborate cons that resemble fringe theatre performances (one of the reasons why the screen-to-stage switch makes sense). In the opening split-seconds, director Jonathan Kent and lighting designer Peter Mumford pull off a minor trick of their own: a visual switcheroo more satisfying than anything in the play proper. Bean teases the material into new shapes which continue or comment on other Mamet works. A familial triangle mirrors the ones in American Buffalo and The Cryptogram: Billy, the antsy gambler whose plight first connects Margaret to Mike, is made an explicitly filial figure, with the therapist and the conman his surrogate parents. That choice pays off nicely during the explicitly Oedipal confrontation that gives the play its climax. Where House of Games never gels is in the marriage of Mamet's ascetic sensibility with Bean's crowd-pleasing cheer: it's the equivalent of an emaciated figure in a baggy suit. Kent's direction of the ensemble scenes also has a frustrating shapelessness; the central sequence is so unfocused that any tension has dissipated by the time the con is revealed. Despite the efforts of Lisa Dillon as Margaret, Richard Harrington as Mike and especially Oscar Lloyd, the show's standout as Billy, this is a low-stakes enterprise overall. Then again, perhaps none of its bait-and-switch tricks could ever compete with the ultimate real-life plot-twist: Mamet going Maga. At Hampstead theatre, London, until 7 June
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Conman, 32, who faked terminal brain cancer to swindle school friend out of thousands of pounds is jailed
A callous conman who faked being terminally ill with a brain tumour to swindle an old classmate out of thousands of pounds has been jailed for a year. Matthew Howarth, 32, contacted Thomas Lee out of the blue around 16 years after they left secondary school - but then began falsely telling him he only had weeks to live. During his heartless scam, jobless Howarth boasted of being a TV producer with private health insurance but claimed he needed cash to pay an excess on the policy. In one Facebook post, he wrote: 'An utterly abysmal few weeks in and out of hospital like a proverbial pinball. Never a dull moment when suffering from illness.' Mr Lee, also 32, who was vulnerable after splitting up with his long-time partner, agreed to take out a loan to pay out £2,700 on the understanding he would be paid back - only to be landed with a second plea for £27,000. He then started to do his own research into Howarth and discovered a Facebook page involving up to two other people who gave him money. A neighbour of Howarth is also believed to have handed over £7,300. Mr Lee, a telecommunications worker, asked Howarth for medical evidence of his illness but went to police when he was fobbed off with a string of excuses. Inquiries revealed Howarth - who lives with his housebound mother in Atherton, Greater Manchester - had no terminal illness. In another Facebook post, Howarth shamelessly referenced the Princess of Wales' cancer treatment, adding ironically: 'Someone I used to know lied about a cancer diagnosis to get benefits and a new property. 'What sort of despicable human being does that? Lowest of the low dregs of society. Shame on you!' In a victim impact statement, Mr Lee said: 'At the time I was in quite a depressed state having separated with my partner of nine years and when Matt reached out it made me feel good to get back in contact with someone else. 'Everything seemed to be going well until he told me he was weeks away from death. It affected my sleep and mental wellbeing and it also affected my work. 'Initially when I found out none of it was true I was actually relieved my friend was not dying and that I would no longer have to help sort out funeral arrangements after all. 'However when all that died down, I then got to think about what had been done which made me angry and upset. It made me feel quite stupid. 'He was someone I thought was a friend. It really affected my trust in people. I used to do anything for people. Now I second guess things and I cannot trust someone who is not my family.' In another post, Howarth shamelessly referenced the Princess of Wales' cancer treatment At Wigan Magistrates Court, Howarth pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. He was jailed for 12 months and ordered to pay Mr Lee £1,200 in compensation. Three iPhones and a brand new MacBook have additionally been seized by police so that they can be sold to help repay the victim. Miss Shazia Aslam, prosecuting, said: 'Thomas Lee is an old school friend of the defendant who contacted him even though they had not been in touch since they had left high school many years ago. 'The defendant told the complainant he had worked in TV and that he has private medical care that covers him up to £10 million for treatment. He then maintained that he said that a £10,000 excess had to be paid on that and said he had already received about £7,300 of that total. 'The complainant at the time was feeling very vulnerable and in his words says the defendant almost groomed him. 'The defendant said he wanted to get treated at a private hospital and said if he did not receive this pending treatment he would die within months. 'The complainant, having heard all this, suffered from sleepless nights as he thought about his old friend apparently dying when he could be in a position to help. 'He told the defendant that he would take out a loan and he would give the loan money to the defendant and the defendant could eventually pay him back. 'As a result, the complainant transferred £2,700 on October 17, 2023, by a bank transfer. 'After the money had been transferred the complainant said that he did not suspect anything untoward until the defendant asked for a further amount of money to be paid. 'He then started to do his own research into the defendant and discovered a Facebook page involving up to two people, who are believed to have contributed money to the defendant in the past. 'One person believed to have contributed £7,300 is a neighbour of the defendant. 'Mr Lee asked for medical evidence from the defendant to prove the illness but was kept being given excuses and he reported the matter to police. The defendant was arrested and and gave full admissions of guilt in the interview. 'He said he apologised for doing it and said he was not in the right headspace. He said he was in a bad mental space and for that reason he lied to the complainant about having a brain tumour and claiming it was causing him to become seriously ill.' In mitigation for Howarth, defence solicitor Duncan Phillips said: 'My client acknowledges the seriousness of what he has done to Mr Lee. 'But he has suffered multiple traumatic events over a period of time and clearly he is a very vulnerable individual himself. 'This is someone who is remorseful and can only apologise and make things right as he intends to do.' Speaking from the dock, Howarth said: 'I am sincerely sorry and I am heartbroken to lose my friend. I had been experiencing headaches and I am back under neurology for an urgent referral.' Howarth was also banned from contacting Me Lee for two years under the terms of a restraining order. JPs told him: 'You deliberately targeted a vulnerable victim over a period of time, resulting in a serious detrimental effect on him and a financial gain for yourself. '
