Two men have been acquitted of involvement in a wine fraud committed by a company boss.

Bradley Deadman, 23, of Lodge Road, Tonbridge, and Lewis Hearson, 22, of Dowgate Close, Tonbridge, had denied four charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Harry Mosley, of Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks, first denied two offences of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, but changed his pleas to guilty on the seventh day of the trial.

He previously admitted two other fraud conspiracy charges on “a limited basis”. He will be sentenced tomorrow.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Mosley, 25, and others cold-called customers on behalf of his company Optimum Fine Wine and cheated them out of portfolios or large amounts of cash.

He was said to have enjoyed a luxury lifestyle by defrauding investors out of more than £430,000.

They were promised profit in return for buying, swapping or selling wine through the company.

But the clients, many of whom were elderly, received little or no money from sales of their own wine collections, and wine they bought or swapped never materialised, said prosecutor Dale Sullivan.

Instead, director Mosley “cut and run” and spent the money on high living.

He splashed about £100,000 at bars, restaurants and hotels and bought luxury goods and designer clothes.

Mosley also gambled just over £57,300 on spread betting, took a holiday in Dubai and gave his girlfriend £23,320. He paid himself £112,000 and sold a luxury Bentley car.

Some customers lost entire wine portfolios after they were sold on by the company to wholesalers.

One, aged 84, handed over £205,460 for wine to be purchased and then held in warehouse storage at London City Bond, but none was bought and no money was refunded.

Another who agreed to swap his collection with others through the company transferred more than £56,000 in wine, but only two cases were delivered to his account and he lost just over £49,000.

Fifteen customers were duped by the company between September 2012 and May 2014, losing a total of £436,792. At least two had since died.

Optimum Fine Wine was set up in September 2012 by Mosley helped by a £61,000 loan from his parents.

It was first based in Croydon, Surrey, and then moved to Wellington House in Church Road, Tunbridge Wells.