A mother-of-five made £1.5million running a high-class escort agency with former TOWIE star Maria Fowler on its books while claiming £117,000 in benefits and tax credits, a court heard.
Janine Adeleke, 42, claimed state handouts while running agency Carltons Of London from her seaside home Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex.
One of her children was sent to the exclusive Roedean boarding school for girls, while her family had private medical insurance and membership to the David Lloyd gym.
She is now facing jail after being found guilty of seven counts of cheating the revenue, fraud and money laundering at Canterbury Crown Court yesterday.
At the start of the trial, Allastair Walker, prosecuting, told the jury that for eight years between November 2006 and October last year Adeleke had failed to disclose significant income - much of which came from the escort business.
'During this period she claimed state benefits including Income Support, Council Tax benefit and carer's allowance,' he said.
The jury heard that in July 2011, when she suspected that Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) investigators were on her trail ,she laundered receipts through accounts in the name of her elderly and frail mother.
'Over the years, the defendant received nearly £1.5m of undeclared income,' said Mr Walker.
'At least £650,000 should have been declared to revenue and customs.'
Mr Walker said that Adeleke should have paid £25,000 in revenue - but she was claiming benefits of £37,000 and tax credits of £80,000.
He added: 'Overall losses to the state are in excess of £350,000.'
The prosecutor told how Adeleke, who had denied the charges against her, had been married but separated from her husband in 2006.
He said: 'There followed a traumatic and bitter divorce and there can be little doubt that as a consequence the defendant was left much less comfortably off.
'It is the Crown's case that while claiming benefits she came to run a successful and expensive escort agency which boasted: "VIP Models of poise, sophistication and stunning good looks for elite gentlemen".
'The profits she made from this she never declared', he added.
The court was told that former TOWIE star Maria Fowler (pictured) had been linked to the agency in documents seized by investigators
He revealed that while living in Bexhill-On-Sea, Adeleke had opened a business bank account in Chelmsford, Essex, for the agency profits.
The court heard that the total loss to taxpayers as a result of Adeleke's fraud was £367,000.
She had claimed benefits of £37,000, including Income Support for herself and her five children, from 2006 to 2011 - totaling £28,468.22, Council Tax Benefit, from 2007 to 2011, of £6,151.87 and Carer's Allowance, for looking after her elderly mother from October 2010, of £3,280.20.
She also claimed a total of £80,372 in tax credits from November 2006 to April 2014.
Adeleke also avoided nearly £250,000 of income tax and national insurance payments by not declaring her income from the escort agency.
The trial heard how former TOWIE star Maria Fowler's name had been linked to the agency in documents seized by investigators.
Mr Walker told the court a contract between Adeleke and a Sunday tabloid newspaper proved she was running the agency at the time she was illegally claiming benefits.
He said: 'Significantly a copy of a contract between the defendant and the Sunday Mirror was discovered [at her home].
'The agreement showed that for the sum of £8,000 Ms Adeleke would give the paper a full interview and provide photographs of a television star called Maria Fowler.
'Maria Fowler was said to be a former escort with Carltons, who achieved fame appearing in the series The Only Way Is Essex.
'The contract bearing the defendant's name and signature links the defendant with the agency at the relevant time, even if the contract was not completed.'
It was revealed in 2011 that Miss Fowler had been on the books of Carltons, and that her photograph featured on the agency's website under the name Kelly.
She has strenuously denied that she ever worked as an escort. Her spokesman at the time said she had signed up to the company to carry out promotional work, and had left when the true nature of the agency's work was revealed.
Mr Walker said the £8,000 contract for Ms Adeleke had been the 'tip of the iceberg'.
'As the money poured in the agency took a 35 per cent cut from its workers who were charging between £200 and ££2,000 an hour,' he said.
'Over the period a sum around £1.5m had entered her accounts, including ones associated with Carlton's.
'When she was arrested she denied running the business and gave "a rambling and convoluted" account of how an ex-boyfriend had been helping her.'
Adeleke was granted bail until her sentencing hearing in November.
In November 2013 it emerged that Prime Minister David Cameron had accidentally followed the agency on Twitter.
Number 10 said the account had been followed due to an automated system they had in place in 2009.
Adeleke, who claims not to have been working at the time of the benefit fraud, said after the verdict: ‘The agency was owned by an ex boyfriend of mine and used my name without permission. I did not receive any money from it and I am intending to appeal.’
The defendant, who lives in a three-bedroom country house worth £500,000, added: ‘The money came from family and friends to help me pay the mortgage and school fees after I was heavily in debt because I was not being paid child maintenance.
‘I didn’t realise that it counted as income so should not have been claiming the benefits. I had five children to support at the time, who were under 10 when I started claiming, and did not want to be evicted.’
Neighbours expressed surprise at the verdict. One woman, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘As far as I know she is a very nice lady. I just feel sorry for her children.’
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