Fraudster ran £1.8m fake movie poster empire from luxury farmhouse

A fraudster sold £1.8million worth of fake movie posters from his luxury farmhouse, a court heard.

Adam Jeffreys worked for one of the UK's leading poster manufacturers, Lancs Live reports. But over a seven-year period, he ran a lucrative side hustle from his farmhouse in east Lancashire.

The 41-year-old had a 'brazen disregard' for trademark laws and printed tens of thousands of counterfeit billboards from films such as James Bond, Harry Potter and Batman. On November 3, 2021, his empire came crashing down when Trading Standards raided his property and discovered a large commercial printer and posters packaged and ready to be sent out.

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Jeffreys was jailed for 43 months in December last year - the longest custodial sentence ever secured by Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards team. Now, a Proceeds of Crime hearing has been told how he made a profit of £1 million on sales of £1,819,783.18.

He was assessed to have £514,052.77 of funds available, which he must pay in full or face an extra five years added to his sentence. Nick McNamara, from Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards service, said: "This is the longest ever prison sentence imposed in a case brought by our Trading Standards team, whose hard work and dedication was vital in bringing this offender to book.

"Legitimate businesses work hard to build brand awareness and have a right to be protected from pirates who steal their intellectual property rights."

Jeffreys, from Colne, operated in both the UK and Germany under the names of 'Plymouth Trading Co', 'Plakat Welt' and 'Poster Station', and told the court he had not realised he was doing anything wrong. But