A foreign used car dealer, accused of taking deposits from customers and failing to deliver vehicles or give refunds, has been freed of ten fraud charges.
Wendell Phillip, 38, of Diego Martin, was discharged when his case came up before High Court Master Margaret Sookraj-Goswami.
Sookraj-Goswami found that the evidence presented against Phillip was insufficient to establish a prima facie case and warrant a trial before a judge and jury or judge alone.
Phillip was discharged, and the bail conditions he was under were lifted.
In October 2022, Phillip was slapped with ten fraudulent conversion charges and accused of defrauding customers of $392,015.56.
The T&T Police Service (TTPS) claimed that Phillip, the owner of WEP Consulting Agency Ltd, received various down payments from customers for the importation of vehicles between August 2019 and September 2020.
The alleged down payments ranged from $11,000 to $106,315.56.
The purported victims claimed that Phillip promised to deliver the vehicle within two months of the payments but failed to do so.
They all filed reports to the Fraud Squad after they allegedly failed to obtain refunds.
Phillips was arrested at a financial institution in Port-of-Spain and was eventually charged.
Phillips, who denied any wrongdoing, made numerous court appearances before Sookraj-Goswami considered the case and made the determination.
