A property tycoon has been charged with a £3.5 million fraud over claims that he sold houseboats on a stretch of the Thames riviera that could not be lived in.
Myck Djurberg, 60, allegedly made a string of deals to sell the luxury homes despite knowing that they did not come with residential mooring licences.
The entrepreneur is accused of fraudulently raking in between £850,000 and £1.25 million on four sales at the Hampton Riviera Boatyard, near Hampton Court Palace, despite the boats being rendered “worthless”, it is said.
Djurberg, who has been locked in civil wrangles with the buyers for years, has now been charged with four counts of fraud by false representation.
He appeared at Wimbledon magistrates’ court yesterday, insisting he intends to fight the allegations at trial. One of his employees, Myka Stark, 25, is co-accused on one of the alleged frauds.
“The defendant is responsible for fraudulent activity by purporting to sell properties which had residential licences, but this later transpired not to be the case,” said prosecutor Althea Moore. “The total value is in excess of £3.5 million.”
Djurberg, who owns several properties around the UK, lives in an Alpine chalet at the boatyard, which comes with its own indoor beach, that was shipped piece-by-piece from Switzerland in 1882.
The houseboat sales at the centre of the fraud case happened between 2012 and 2016, with buyers claiming they were duped into the deals believing the homes came with “residential mooring rights”.
One couple with children say they paid £1.25 million, only to discover they had no right to moor at the Hampton Riviera Boatyard. Djurberg indicated not guilty pleas to the four fraud charges at court yesterday, and was sent with Stark to face a crown court trial.
They will next appear for a preliminary hearing at Kingston crown court on July 20.
Djurberg, who has ties to Portugal, was freed on bail on the conditions that he does not contact witnesses or apply for any international travel documents and surrenders his passport.
