Prosecutors have called for a man convicted of allowing his bank account to be used by fraudsters to serve up to eight months in prison.

Marcal Burrows, 38, from Warwick, was found guilty earlier this year of facilitating the use of criminal proceeds by another on a date between August 1, 2021 and December 14, 2021.

His lawyer said that Burrows was himself a victim and was “on a journey to try to get his money back”.

While the trial was conducted in Magistrates’ Court, Alan Richards, for the Crown, said the matter was brought to the Supreme Court for sentencing so that a forfeiture order could be made regarding $18,600 of criminal proceeds still in Burrows’s bank account.

He told the court on Monday that Burrows had allowed his HSBC account to be used by fraudsters conducting the scam, which promised victims fast and significant returns for investments.

Mr Richards said: “They were using social media, particularly Instagram, to encourage individuals to invest in a fraudulent scheme and instructing them to pay the relevant sums into Burrows’s HSBC Bermuda account.

“There may very well have been a time when Burrows himself fell victim to such a scheme.

“He gave evidence during the trial that he had paid the overseas persons in the region of $10,000 and he sought to explain his actions as an attempt to recoup the money he lost in the scheme.

“The court records indicate that on two occasions Mr Burrows sent his bank card overseas to an address in Jamaica and provided individuals with his PIN and other information so that his card could be used overseas in order to withdraw cash from his bank account.”

Mr Richards said that after the trial, Magistrates’ Court found that Burrows must have at least suspected that the arrangement was facilitating criminal behaviour by others.

He told the court that more than $93,000 of criminal proceeds was paid into Burrows’s account, with the bulk of those funds being withdrawn in cash in Jamaica.

Mr Richards told the court that one victim was responsible for the majority of the money funnelled into the account but that individual had declined to be involved in the case.

However, he said the funds in the frozen account would be enough to compensate six complainants in the case who had lost out in the scam.

Mr Richards said that while Burrows deserved some credit for agreeing to the forfeiture order and for his lack of previous convictions, a sentence of eight months behind bars would be appropriate given the circumstances.

However, Marc Daniels, counsel for Burrows, argued that any prison sentence should be suspended because the defendant was also a victim.

Mr Daniels said that Burrows had sent his bank card and PIN to Jamaica under the belief that it was required for his money to be returned to him but it was instead used by the scammers as they targeted others.

“He himself was a victim,” he said. “He was duped. He was naive. He was manipulated.”

Mr Daniels said that others who had been caught in the scheme had also made arguably foolish decisions in an effort to get their money back, including sending the scammers more money and filming a video claiming the scam was legitimate.

“He was on a journey to try to get his money back in the same way a lot of victims were trying to get their money back,” he said.

“He didn’t make a video. What he did was really the handing over the PIN and the card and sending it to Jamaica.”

Mr Daniels said Burrows was at a low risk of reoffending and noted several character references who described him as kind, hard-working, trustworthy and helpful.

Burrows himself told the court that he was not a criminal and hoped to be allowed to continue working so that he could support his family.

“I never intended for anyone else to lose money and for that I am willing to compensate the victims with my bank account,” he said.

Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe reserved his decision until next month.

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