A trio have been sentenced for their involvement in a number of insurance fraud plots led by boxer Hamid Sediqi.

Mr Sediqi cloned a genuine claims management company in order to obtain referral fees from solicitors, according to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

He also was involved in the orchestration of over 60 fraudulent motor insurance claims alongside Belma Draganovic and former boxer Mason Smith.

The trio, led by Mr Sediqi, accrued almost £245,000 by targeting solicitors and insurance companies and stealing the identities of companies and members of the public.

He received a four year custodial sentence at Inner London Crown Court on Friday.

Ms Draganovic was sentenced to eleven months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months. Mr Smith received a three-month tagged curfew order.

Mr Sediqi is also being considered for a Serious Crime Prevention Order.

Mr Sediqi and Ms Draganovic used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle including purchasing penthouse apartments and several ostentatious vehicles. Following their conviction, proceedings will now commence under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover the funds which were illegally obtained.

The trio were referred to IFED for investigation after a claims management firm discovered that Mr Sediqi had cloned the company for nearly two years.

By September 2018, Aviva had detected sixty-two fraudulent motor insurance claims linked to Mr Sediqi under pseudonym Kevin Heartbreak, dating from 2016 onwards. It was not the first time he had attempted to defraud the insurer.

Carl Mather, special investigations unit manager at Aviva, said: “Aviva originally identified Kevin Heartbreak as a serial fraudster 10 years ago for which he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and was forced to pay back the proceeds of his crimes. This most recent case underlines the need for the incoming whiplash reforms to tackle the disproportionate compensation attached to whiplash claims, which continues to attract fraudsters, and which pushes up premiums for all genuine customers.”