Co-owner and director of East Sussex printer Zeta Colour, Stuart Still from Newhaven, East Sussex and Marianne Van Santé, from South Ascot, Berkshire were sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court, London, on Tuesday.

They were found guilty of charges of making or supplying articles for use in fraud on 11 March.

The brochures, produced under Still’s direction at Seaford-based Zeta Colour, helped to con investors who were lured by the professional print work into believing the investment opportunity was genuine. But it was, in fact, a con run out of three overseas boiler rooms.

Van Santé acted as the go-between who linked Still and the boiler rooms - Cantwell International, Gateway International and Talvest International.

The crime gang paid Zeta Colour thousands of pounds into accounts directly under Still’s control.

City of London Police detectives uncovered how the brochures were sent to people who had been contacted by phone by boiler room operatives in an attempt to convince them to part with their money.

One victim, who received and read one of the brochures, 'invested' £100,000.

City of London Police detective constable Barry Butler said: 

Detective Constable Barry Butler, from the City of London Police said:

“The brochures that were produced and sold by Still and Van Santé formed an integral part of the sales pitch made by three boiler rooms, giving them credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of potential investors.

“Their imprisonment for more than three years each shows that those who help facilitate an investment fraud will be dealt with by law enforcement in the same way as those that are actually running the scheme.”

Still’s role was identified in 2011, when the City of London Police Money Laundering Unit received a referral from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) identifying that he was involved in printing promotional material for Talvest International. Zeta Colour closed the same year.

Detectives discovered Still and the companies under his control had been printing for alleged fraudulent investment companies going back as far as 2005 and that Still and Van Santé had come to the attention of the FCA in 2009 and 2010.

Still and Van Santé were arrested in February 2012.