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A businessman has pleaded guilty to making false statements in order to shut down a nightclub, which police believe were generated using AI.
A Metropolitan police source said the use of AI to generate letters by complainants who do not exist is a growing issue.
Aldo d’Aponte, 47, the CEO of Arbitrage Group Properties, pleaded guilty to writing two letters, supposedly by his neighbours, objecting to the reopening of Heaven nightclub, which temporarily closed after a rape allegation against one of its security guards.
D’Aponte was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £26 victim surcharge.
Heaven, an LGBTQ nightclub in central London had its licence suspended in November 2024 after a 19-year-old woman accused a bouncer of rape. It was allowed to reopen with enhanced welfare and security policies after a council hearing held a month later. The worker was later found not guilty of the alleged offence.
During the council hearing, council officials received letters, sent via an encrypted email address, all of which were detailed in their complaints about the nightclub.
Philip Kolvin KC, a planning lawyer, decided to investigate the letters pro bono, because while acting for the nightclub during the licence suspension his suspicions were aroused by the unusual character of the objection to the nightclub reopening.
When the letters were put through an AI detection generator they were identified as almost certainly written using artificial intelligence. His research found that the people who had apparently written the complaints did not appear to exist, or at least did not live at the addresses they listed as their own.
Police traced the IP addresses linked to two of the letters to d’Aponte.
Kolvin said he had “felt very sorry” for the nightclub owner, who had found the objection letters “traumatic”. “This whole situation is open to abuse if councils are not alert to this problem and not checking the veracity of these objections,” he said.
The Guardian understands there are two further live cases police are exploring regarding false representations written by AI.
D’Aponte complained about the prospect of the nightclub reopening in his own representation to Westminster council. In it, he and his husband complained that their window overlooked the entrance of the club and that they were disturbed by the noise of music and customers at the venue. They wrote that the operation of the club in its current form was “fundamentally at odds with family and community life in what is a residential neighbourhood”.
Saba Naqshbandi KC, acting for d’Aponte, said the incident was “completely out of character” and described it as a “foolish and desperate act”.
She said the businessman, his husband and children had been “suffering for some eight years by the constant nuisance caused by the venue”, and the short closure “brought for them a very much needed relief of constant sleep and peace. The prospect of the licence being reinstated was a real concern”.
She said the emails were sent to “support their case”.
D’Aponte pleaded guilty under section 158 of the Licensing Act 2003, which makes it an offence to knowingly or recklessly make a false statement in connection with an application for the grant, variation, transfer or review of a premises licence or club premises certificate. The maximum penalty is an unlimited fine.
After Thursday’s court hearing, d’Aponte said he deeply regretted his actions, and reiterated his frustration with what he perceived to be the “nuisance” caused by the nightclub. “Heaven and its proprietors need to take steps to better coexist with the local community and protect the safety and wellbeing of its customers, neighbours, and my family,” he said.
