A GAMBLING addict who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle set up a “brutal and simple” fraud to con two women out of more than £350,000, a court heard.

Lee Kantor, of Chase Court, Southend, is charged with two counts of fraud and is standing trial alongside his mum and dad and a friend, who are accused of laundering the cash.

Basildon Crown Court heard the 42-year-old spent a drunken night in a hotel room with one victim in an effort to “charm” her and “keep her sweet”.

Peter Gair, prosecuting, said Kantor was involved with a firm called Hurst and Lang Trading Ltd, based in the City of London.

The firm contacted one victim in November 2012 offering to act as a broker in investments for rare earth metals.

The woman visited the firm’s offices and paid £17,500. She was contacted days later by a man called James Anderson, an alias of Lee Kantor. Kantor offered to make further investments if she could transfer about £40,000.

On November 29, 2012, the woman made five payments totalling £40,731. The jury was handed copies of the firm’s bank account which showed it was more than £1,000 overdrawn when the payments were made.

Shortly after the cash landed in the account, withdrawals were made to accounts controlled by Lee Kantor, his father Terry Kantor and the firm’s directors Jeffrey Whiley and Mark Sewell.

Mr Gair said: “By the end of that day it had all gone out because the account was back to being overdrawn.

“That money goes in and immediately goes out. Where does it go? You would expect, if this was a legitimate, genuine and honest deal, that the money went to buy rare earth metals.

“But it went to the individuals involved with Hurst and Lang in what was a pure, brutal, simple fraud.”

Mr Gair said Kantor’s bank statement showed money being transferred from Hurst and Lang and then going out to various accounts, including £5,000 to online bookmaker William Hill.

He said: “I don’t think William Hill are known to sell rare earth metals.”

Mr Gair said the pattern continued with later ‘investments’, with some cash going through Ryan Wilkinson’s account.

The court heard Kantor, using his alias, later contacted the first victim to say he had “contacts” at a firm called LAK Commodities, which also traded in rare earth metals.

Mr Gair said the company was a “fabrication” and payments of £210,000 were then made into what was Kantor’s personal bank account.

In July 2013, Kantor met his victim at Café Rouge in Woking, where they spent the evening talking about business and drinking wine.

The court heard he became “flirty” and the pair engaged in “heavy petting” after booking into a hotel.

Mr Gair said: “You may think this episode shows how Lee Kantor would try and charm his victim, keep her sweet and onside so that he could continue to fleece her out of her money.”

The court heard evidence from Lee Kantor’s ex-partner.

She described Kantor as being “flash with the cash” and said he bought a Rolex, BMW and paid for expensive holidays to Turkey and Portugal.

She said he also liked to spend time at the Platform 7 bar in Upminster, owned by his friends Whiley and Sewell, or in the Railway Tavern in Southend, with Ryan Wilkinson.

Whiley and Sewell have already admitted their part in the fraud.

Lee Kantor, of Chase Court Gardens, Southend, denies two counts of fraud by false representation.

Terry Kantor, 67, and Lesley Kantor 65, of Chase Court Gardens, Southend, and Ryan Wilkinson, 46 of The Croft, Great Wakering, all deny converting criminal property.