Man jailed for romance and VAT fraud in Maidenhead
Italian national Maurizio Fermi was sentenced over seven years in prison at Aylesbury Crown Court.
Last updated 20th Feb 2026
A man has been jailed for romance and VAT fraud offences in Maidenhead after an investigation by Thames Valley Police.
67-year-old Maurizio Fermi, from Marches in Italy, was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday 6th of February.
Fermi was found guilty of two counts of fraud by false representation by a unanimous jury, following a five-day trial.
His romance fraud offences took place between 6th of May 2012 and 30th of November 2017.
Fermi first met a woman, now in her sixties, on a dating site and then later in-person.
He made the victim feel that this new relationship was promising, allowing them to share many details about their lives and therefore developing a close relationship.
The relationship did not progress as she expected, due to the fact Fermi explained that he was under a Catholic vow from The Vatican, which meant that he had to live a life of chastity, poverty, and servitude for seven years. This was to atone for his previously sinful behaviour and lifestyle.
He promised the victim that they could have a future together, including marriage, after the vow reached its completion in four to five years’ time.
The victim, who had a very strong faith, came to accept and respect Fermi’s vow. They made plans for their future, which included purchasing a property for them to live in together.
Fermi was supported by the victim who found him employment, provided six different loans to him after signing a loan agreement totalling £174, 500 for his business, and to purchase properties as investments for their future. He complied with the repayments for a few years, and paying back around £500-£1,000 each month.
However, Fermi’s vow was a lie as well as all the promises and the reasons he gave for obtaining loans from the victim.
At the end of the vow period, Fermi fled to Italy with another woman, and ceased all repayments of the loans he had received from the victim over six years. This caused her to lose over £142,000.
Fermi's VAT fraud offences occurred between the 16th of April 2014 and the 30th of September 2017.
He was employed as a contractor, issuing invoices under his own company’s name, Twenty Twenty Financial Systems Consultancy.
On those invoices, he provided a false VAT registration number and invoiced VAT inclusive amounts. However, his company had never been registered for VAT, and it had in fact been dissolved for two of the three years that he invoiced under it.
Over three years, Fermi pocketed almost £70,000 of VAT that should have been given to HRMC.
His employer could not then reclaim the VAT they had paid via his invoices because he was not VAT registered, and never passed the VAT over to HMRC as required.
Fermi was arrested in Italy on 2 July 2025.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges on the 24th of April 2024, however due to him being in Italy he was not formally charged until he was extradited to the UK on 7 August 2025.
Detective Constable, Catriona Shaw, of the Berkshire East CID, said: “I want to thank the victim for her courage in giving evidence during the trial and praise her perseverance and patience in seeing this case through to trial and ultimately the conviction of Maurizio Fermi."
“The victim has been through an extremely challenging period in her life with long lasting consequences as a result of Fermi’s dishonest actions, therefore I am pleased that the jury saw his lies for what they were, and that he has received an appropriate custodial sentence."
“Fermi had complete disregard for making an honest living and this was further shown in his lack of any effort to pay taxes in this country."
“I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public that anyone can be the victim of fraud, please do not be embarrassed and do report it to Report Fraud.”