Four sentenced over 'eye-watering' £200m money laundering plot
Four men have been sentenced for their roles in a £200m money laundering plot described as one of the biggest of its kind in UK legal history. Gregory Frankel, 47, Daniel Rawson, 47, Haroon Rashid, 54, and Arjun Babber, 32, were convicted over the conspiracy to turn criminal cash into untraceable gold.Jailing Frankel for 11 years and eight months, Babber for 11 years, Rawson for 10 years and 10 months and Rashid for 10 years, a judge described its scale as "eye-watering".Only Rawson was at Leeds Crown Court to hear and begin his sentence, with arrest warrants issued for the three other men, who were believed to have fled the country.
Specialist machines
The court had previously heard that between 2014 and 2016, money was brought from across the UK to Bradford-based jewellers Fowler Oldfield, a business premises in London and a company called Pure Nines Ltd, based in Hatton Garden.The defendants were accused of hiding the origin of the money by laundering it through a company bank account and using the proceeds to buy gold which was shipped to Dubai.The court heard Frankel and Rawson were the directors of Fowler Oldfield, which had become a "front of genuine trade" for a money laundering operation by the time police intervened in 2016.The "dirty money" was delivered by couriers in carrier bags and holdalls full of hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time, the trial heard, even being concealed inside fast food boxes and children's toys.The cash was counted on the premises using specialist counting machines before being bundled together for collection.Socialite James Stunt, former son-in-law of Formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, had been accused of allowing his Mayfair office to be used as "a trusted hub for money laundering", but he denied the offence and was found not guilty by the Leeds Crown Court jury on Tuesday.
'Dirty cash'
Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Hannah Von Dadelszen, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "This case is one of the largest money laundering prosecutions ever brought to the courts in England and Wales."These four men were at the heart of the operation to launder and legitimise the dirty cash, bringing it into the banking system and today justice was served against them in these sentences."Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Constable Pat Twiggs, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "This was a sophisticated operation designed to launder a substantial amount of money connected to criminal activity."At no point during our investigation did anyone come forward to claim any of the money that we seized."He added: "This complex and detailed investigation, undertaken by the West Yorkshire Police Economic Crime Unit, has taken over eight years to reach this point."I am pleased the diligence and tremendous determination our officers and staff, together with partner agencies, has achieved this result."
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