A man has admitted submitting fabricated objections to Westminster City Council in an attempt to block the reopening of Heaven nightclub in central London, using artificial intelligence to generate false resident complaints, according to court proceedings and police reports.
The defendant, Aldo d’Aponte, pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with a licensing application under the Licensing Act 2003.
The court heard that during the licensing process, Westminster City Council received a series of objection emails sent through encrypted accounts. The messages were presented as from local residents opposed to the nightclub’s reopening, but investigators later determined that the identities used were either fictitious or unverifiable, and there was no reliable evidence that the named individuals or addresses actually existed.
A planning lawyer who examined the material told the court: “When the letters were put through an AI detection generator, they were identified as almost certainly written using artificial intelligence.”
The lawyer also added: “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 later linked the submissions to the defendant through digital forensic work, including IP address tracing and email metadata analysis, which pointed back to accounts associated with him. A Metropolitan Police source described the case as part of a wider emerging trend in regulatory disputes: The use of AI to generate letters from non-existent complainants is a growing issue.
The court was told the false objections were strategically submitted during a sensitive licensing application process involving Heaven nightclub, a well-known London venue that has previously faced regulatory scrutiny and temporary closure linked to safety and compliance concerns.
Prosecutors said the fabricated complaints were intended to influence the council’s decision-making by creating the appearance of widespread local opposition to the venue’s reopening.
The defendant received a conditional discharge and was ordered to pay costs. The court also stressed the seriousness of submitting false or misleading information in official licensing proceedings, particularly where public consultation is a key part of the decision-making process.
Authorities say the case highlights growing concerns over the use of artificial intelligence to simulate public opinion in planning, licensing, and other regulatory disputes, raising questions about how councils verify the authenticity of public objections.
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