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Psychologist used false names to avoid £1m property debt

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A Jewish psychologist who used over 40 false names to avoid paying debts of over £1m has been jailed.

Yehuda Crammer, 65, of Prestwich, Manchester, was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to two counts of concealing property after he was made bankrupt in 2004.

Manchester Crown Court heard how the psychologist, who ran a Harley Street clinic as well as one in central Manchester, had racked
up £800,000 of debt from owning a care home which fell into financial difficulty.

A second count of a bankrupt obtaining credit was left on file, relating to a number of properties he bought in a buy-to-let business.

A bankruptcy notice in the London Gazette in 2009 says he had used over 40 variations of his name, from Dr Y Krammer to Yehuda G Kremer. It also listed a number of addresses in north Manchester's Jewish neighbourhoods of Prestwich and Broughton Park, as well as locations in Bolton and Marbella in Spain, which had been used to secure £319,680 of loans - after he was declared bankrupt.

Dr Crammer had appeared in court on 10 occasions over the past year to allow the complex trial to be heard.

He told the court he wanted to
be able to give dowries to his four daughters, but the judge suggested to do that in the circumstances of his bankruptcy was to maintain or enhance his reputation in the community.

Judge Robert Atherton said the extent of Dr Crammer's dishonesty was "considerable".

A spokesman for the Department for Business, which brought the prosecution, said: "We are determined to crack down on cheats like these who profit by deception.

"When someone acts in this way they are effectively stealing from honest creditors who are owed money and can suffer as a result.

"This prosecution sends a clear message to would-be fraudsters that they won't get away with it."

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