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| Autograph fraudsters found guilty | Autograph fraudsters found guilty |
| (21 minutes later) | |
| Two business partners accused of cheating their customers by forging and selling sports stars' signatures were found guilty at Chester Crown Court. | Two business partners accused of cheating their customers by forging and selling sports stars' signatures were found guilty at Chester Crown Court. |
| Faisal Madani, 43, from Cheshire, and Graeme Walker, 45, of Flintshire, had denied the charges under the Trades Descriptions Act. | |
| The court heard the pair faked autographs of sports stars including Pele, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. | The court heard the pair faked autographs of sports stars including Pele, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. |
| The memorabilia was then sold at the Sporting Icons shop in Chester. | |
| Madani, of Grange Road in Bramhall, Cheshire, and Walker, of Connah's Quay, Flintshire, already have convictions for dishonesty and trademark offences and now face potential jail terms. | |
| Mr Walker's barrister told the jury at Chester Crown Court that Mr Madani was guilty of an "outrageous fraud". | |
| But Mr Madani's barrister insisted he had not supplied the bogus signatures. | |
| Mr Walker's barrister, Paul Lawton, told the court that since 1996, during a meeting with a Coutts bank manager, Mr Madani had been passing himself off as the brother of ex-Manchester United director Armer Mouffac Al Midani. | |
| He said Mr Madani had "duped" his client by providing false merchandise in the form of shirts, photographs and other items. |