R -v- D, Inner London Crown Court, 2023
About
The Defendant was charged with conspiracy to steal. The case involved an attempt to steal approximately £3 million from Metro Bank. A total of £294,000 was successfully taken. This was a highly complex fraud which involved high ranking employees at the bank who would take details of customers using a complex web of impersonation and mules to withdraw significant amounts of money. The defendant's role in the conspiracy was to recruit mules and to act as a go-between with the inside workers to help orchestrate transactions from start to finish. The Defendant was said to be a high ranking member in the conspiracy. We were able to negotiate a basis of plea to limit the Defendant's role and to avoid a custodial sentence.
Result
A Basis of Plea was submitted, which resulted in a non-custodial disposal.
R -v- B, Southwark Crown Court, May 2022
About
The Defendant was charged with money laundering. He ran a successful business. It was alleged that an organised crime group used this business as a conduit for laundering the proceeds of vehicle thefts. This was a highly sophisticated operation that involved the theft of over 131 luxury vehicles totalling over 3 million pounds. It was alleged that the Defendant was legitimatizing the proceeds of crime by creating false records suggesting that members of the crime group were genuine employees of his company and paying them for work that they did not perform. The Defence involved detailed analysis of financial affairs and arrangements. Forensic accountants were used to assist the Defence and cast doubt on the Prosecution's assertions. The total sums involved were hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Result
Our client was the only defendant acquitted by a jury after a trial.
R -v- S and others, Blackfriars Crown Court, 2019
About
Conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation: this involved a sophisticated fraud with several co-defendants. It was alleged that defendants conspired to commit fraud of hundreds of thousands of pounds by cloning credit cards and defrauding banks, not only in the UK but also internationally. The Prosecution relied on numerous items of equipment that was seized including skimming devices, blank cards and a computer system that had over 1000 illegally obtained credit card numbers. The case was extremely complex in that it involved thousands of pages of evidence from electronic devices including telephone messages and cell site data. The Prosecution case was the potential loss was several hundred thousand pounds on the basis of the significant amount of compromised credit card numbers that were found on the laptop.
Result
The defence instructed a forensic accountant and were able to limit the level of potential loss.
R -v- V, Central Criminal Court, 2016
About
Fraud/Acquiring Criminal Property: this was a complex fraud where a well-known US ticket exchange company had been defrauded of approximately 1 million dollars. Monies were transferred to various overseas accounts under the guise of false companies in order to avoid detection. The Defendant was accused of receiving vast sums of money into his account. We successfully managed to agree a basis of plea to limit the Defendant's role.
Result
The Defendant avoided a prison sentence.
R -v- G, Southampton Crown Court, 2016
About
Fraudulent Evasion of Excise Duty: we successfully defended G, who was accused of being involved in the importation of 2 million fake cigarettes from Eastern Europe. The case was prosecuted by HMRC. The investigation relied on the shipment of goods through a company that appeared to be legitimate. The case also rested on CCTV.
Result
The Defendant was found not guilty.
R -v- T, Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey), 2015
About
Banking fraud: this was a complex and sophisticated fraud involving numerous individuals that was extensively investigated by the City of London Police.
Some of the illegal monies had been transferred from organisations who had received fraudulent emails detailing a change of bank account from a purported supplier. Some monies had been obtained via high value cheques stolen in transit. For example, one of the transactions alone amounted to £143,000. The monies were subsequently filtered through numerous accounts to avoid detection.
The Defendant was accused of knowingly receiving fraudulently obtained monies in her account. The prosecution sought to rely on thousands of pages of bank transactions and data to prove their case. The Defence were able to demonstrate that the Defendant did not have the requisite knowledge or suspicion regarding the origins of the monies and therefore was not guilty of the alleged offence.
Result
The defendant was acquitted after a 4-week trial.
R -v- D, Southwark Crown Court, Banking Fraud, 2016
About
This was a complex banking fraud involving transferred funds amounting to several million pounds. Bogus shelf companies were created with the intention of defrauding major banks out of significant sums of money. False invoices and emails were sent to the banks which resulted in the monies being transferred electronically. One transaction alone amounted to nearly £4 million pounds.
Result
The Defendant faced five counts of Fraud. Due to the representations made to the CPS we managed to limit the role of our client through a basis of plea and negotiate a guilty plea to one count of fraud. The remaining counts of fraud were not proceeded with.
Trading Standards -v- T, Harrow Crown Court, 2015
About
Counterfeit goods: we successfully defended T who was accused of flooding the country with fake electrical goods from China whilst working in her capacity as a company director. The case involved a lengthy investigation by the Trading Standards Department of Brent Borough Council into trading and financial activities of T.
Result
A not guilty verdict was recorded.
R -v- O, Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey), 2014
About
Fraud/murder: this case involved an allegation of fraud following a murder of a lonely single woman in the West End. The aftermath of the murder lead to a major and extensive fraud that run in to hundreds of thousands of pounds. Numerous defendants were accused of stealing the identity of the deceased in order to deprive her estate of her assets. This included transfers of significant sums of money through banking and mortgage fraud. The Defendant was accused of impersonating the murdered woman to obtain monies. The Defendant categorically denied any wrongdoing and claimed that she herself was a victim of fraud. It was a high-profile case that was extensively reported in the media.
Result
Following a 2-week trial our client was the only defendant to be acquitted of the fraud.
HMRC -v- K, Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey), 2013
About
Tax fraud: the Defendant was accused of large-scale fraud and money laundering. The allegations related to hacking of HMRC computers, creating applications for fake tax refunds and subsequently diverting funds to bogus bank accounts. It was a sophisticated and elaborate fraud perpetrated by Eastern European hackers. The arrests followed a lengthy surveillance and investigation by HMRC officers. We made representations to the HMRC, following which the case against the Defendant was discontinued.
Result
The case was discontinued after our representations.
