A CONMAN who scammed two women out of £350,000 by promising to invest their cash in gold and rare earth metals is facing jail.

Lee Kantor operated a "simple" and "brutal" fraud hidden behind a complex web of companies and bank accounts that took Essex Police investigators three years to unravel.

The 42-year-old denied two counts of fraud and money laundering but was found guilty after a three week trial at Basildon Crown Court.

Kantor, of Chase Court Gardens, Southend, worked for rare earth metals broker Hurst and Lang Ltd, based in the City, between 2012 and 2013.

The firm cold-called potential investors using marketing lists and offered to use their cash to buy rare earth metals- used in mobile phone and computer technology- from another company called Denver Trading.

Basildon Crown Court heard the first victim was the 56-year-old wife of a senior banking executive.

She agreed to invest £17.5k with Denver Trading, making the payment through Hurst and Lang. Three weeks later, she received another call from Lee Kantor, using the alias James Anderson. He suggested she make another £40,000 investment and she agreed.

Over the following months, the pair were in contact almost daily and she made frequent bank transfers. She lost £323,989 while the other woman handed over £33,929.

Bank records showed payments going straight into Kantor's account and then out again to accounts controlled by Hurst and Lang directors Jeffrey Whiley and Mark Sewell, as well as his friend Ryan Wilkinson, 46 of The Croft, Great Wakering, and his parents Terry, 67, and Lesley, 65, also of Chase Court Gardens, Southend.

Kantor claimed he acted as an honest broker and the women were simply two of the many victims of Denver Trading. An unrelated trial over Denver Trading's activities at Blackfriars Crown Court ended in May with four men being jailed. There were more than 600 victims who handed over a total of £7.7m.

Following the verdict, investigating officer Det Con Andy Copley, of Southend CID, said: “This conviction was the result of a complex three-year investigation. At the heart of that investigation are two women who invested their money in good faith, only to find themselves the victims of a ruthless and cynical fraud.

“It is possible that other people, who have not yet come forward, have fallen victim to this fraud. If you believe you have been a victim please contact Essex Police.”

Wilkinson was found guilty of money laundering while Terry and Lesley Kantor were cleared by a jury.

Jeffrey Whiley, 38, of Brackendale Gardens, Upminster and Mark Sewell, 38 of Christopher Close, Hornchurch, both admitted two counts of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering at an earlier hearing. The four will be sentenced on August 18.