Shamed businessman admits £24,000 fraud linked to Gosport karate club
A businessman has admitted defrauding a vulnerable disabled woman by forging her signature on a lease agreement linked to a karate club.
Martyn Styler, 38, is said to have put the woman at significant financial risk by forging her signature on a lease agreement for IESKA Sports Club in Gosport, for which he was the director and owner at the time.
This forgery resulted in the victim, who is deaf, being put at risk of losing £24,000 relating to the annual rent charge of the business.
The vulnerable victim had been recorded as a guarantor for the club and it has been proven that she had no knowledge of what this meant or what the responsibilities were.
Styler also forged the signature of a witness on the lease document, before submitting the paperwork on June 18, 2020.
This allowed him to continue running his business in order to obtain financial gain.
On June 20, Styler admitted to the witness that he had forged her signature, along with that of his first victim.
He claimed he did so to 'save jobs' at the Sports Club.
The lease was forensically compared by an expert who determined that the signatures on the agreement differed from the genuine signatures of the victims.
The expert concluded that there was strong evidence that neither of the victims had signed the lease agreement.
Styler, of Brewers Lane in Gosport, appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court yesterday (February 2) and admitted to two counts of fraud by false representation.
He was bailed to appear at the same court for sentencing on March 11.