A man who swindled two brothers and their sister out of more than €1 million has been sentenced to two years and five months in prison after being found guilty of fraud.

Joseph Francis Scerri, 50, of Birkirkara persuaded the siblings to believe he was investing their money in US real estate by fabricating a letter from a certain Professor Alberto Cerrutti who was supposedly representing Empire State Buildings.

He also told them that their money would be invested in the Vatican Bank, in oil companies in England and Dubai, and in a tunnel between Malta and Sicily. Paul and Joseph Schembri and their sister Emanuela invested sums of €558,000, £192,000, €93,700, €65,000 and €70,000, the court heard.

In testifying, Mr Scerri withdrew the statement he had given to the police and blamed Paul Schembri (who has since died).

It was he (Mr Schembri) who had approached him and not the other way around. It was also Mr Schembri who produced the fabricated letter and certificates of investment, Mr Scerri claimed.

He said Mr Schembri wanted him to create hidden investments and invest some of the money in a car business. When he saw the business take a turn for the worse, he threatened to report Mr Scerri to the police.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit found that Mr Scerri’s version was just not credible. She had studied his police statements and found that he had almost admitted to committing the crime.

Nowhere had he mentioned the car business, which in itself could not be contradicted by Mr Schembri because he had died during the proceedings.

At the end of the day, the accused knew that he was defrauding a person of modest intelligence and education and knew that this made the siblings easier to defraud, the magistrate said.

Lawyer Mark Busuttil appeared for Mr Scerri.