A whisky company that conned victims out of tens of thousands of pounds by pressuring them to invest in casks of the liquor they never actually owned has been shut down.Cask Spirits Global Limited was wound up at the High Court in London on Tuesday, following a lengthy probe after it emerged a convicted fraudster was running the firm in all but name.Craig Brooks, who was jailed alongside his brother in 2019 for his part in a £6.2million fraud, was banned from being a company director but was exposed as being behind several companies offering fantastical returns to investors.Cask Spirits Global Limited was one such iteration that took tens of thousands of pounds from victims who believed they were purchasing casks of whisky on the promise of large profits.But the majority of the barrels they were sold did not exist, were overpriced or sold to multiple people.Brooks, who operated under pseudonyms including Craig Arch to avoid detection, targeted ordinary people and referred to his firm online as Cask Whisky Ltd - with victims actually paying Cask Spirits Global Limited.According to the Insolvency Service, Cask Spirits Global Limited took at least £97,249 from victims, but the true figure is thought to be higher.The firm, ostensibly run by Brooks's father-in-law Paul Hutchins who is the sole listed director on Companies House, failed to provide investigators with 27 out of the 29 accounting documents they requested. Convicted fraudster Craig Brooks and his sister-in-law Sydnie were exposed as being behind the firm during an investigation Alison and Ian Cocks, from Montrose, Angus, invested £103,000 in casks with firm Cask Whisky Ltd, which didn't exist on Companies HouseOf the 17 customers identified by the Insolvency Service, only four had received valid ownership documentation relating to the casks they believed they owned.Some received certificates for casks that did not exist, or the documents were made out in the company's name rather than their own.Other certificates referred to warehouses with no relationship with Brooks's company, or contained false storage locations as to the whereabouts of the casks referenced. Cask Spirits Global Limited operated under a different name on its website, despite no such company existing, listed addresses investigators found no evidence of residence at and operated multiple undisclosed bank accounts.It also failed to file its accounts consistently and created no reliable way for customers to complain or seek a refund. It targeted victims using high-pressure sales tactics, social media adverts and cold calls. Brooks, who was jailed for a year over his previous £6.2million scam which saw him convince a total of 350 victims to invest in carbon credits and earth metals, teamed up with his sister-in-law Sydnie for his latest scheme.A BBC investigation last year unmasked Brooks as actually running the whisky firm, prompting police to start investigating three separate companies linked to the scam. The company was led by a man calling himself Craig Arch - pictured during undercover filming - who is actually Craig Brooks, who was jailed in 2019 for his role in a £6.2million fraudNo charges have yet been filed in the case, known as Operation Gamboge.The scams are based on legitimate investment schemes which see people purchase a cask of whisky when it is first produced, and then hope that it rises in value as it ages in the barrel.The industry has no official regulation in the UK, making it a prime target for fraudsters.Among the victims targeted by Brooks was Alison Cocks, from Montrose, who invested a total of £103,000 in four casks, not all of which existed.She previously told the BBC how she was reassured by an online portfolio that appeared to show her investment growing, but problems emerged when she decided to sell. 'Suddenly they didn't want to talk to me anymore. They were avoiding my calls. I was really panicking,' she said. She later found out the most expensive cask she had bought did not exist and another had also been purchased by someone else. Mark George, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 'Our investigations identified serious concerns about the way Cask Spirits Global Limited was run and the harm caused to customers who invested in good faith. 'People handed over thousands of pounds for whisky casks they never legally owned.'Despite claiming to have stopped trading, the company appeared to still be active and posed an ongoing risk to the public. We will not hesitate to act where a company cannot be trusted with people's money.'City of London Police previously raided the premises of Cask Whisky and launched a public appeal for any clients to get in touch.