Southwark Crown Court Sentencing Results

Leader of an organised criminal gang that stole hundreds of luxury SUVs from London and the Home Counties using relay station attacks and signal jamming. Vehicles were dismantled at industrial units including in Northamptonshire and Derbyshire, with parts exported to Lithuania. Some vehicles had identities changed via 'ringing'. Aged 36 of Rainham, Havering. Two stolen rung vehicles recovered outside address, £8,000 cash and bank card for laundering seized inside. Later re-arrested with another £8,000 cash. Lithuanian national.

Participated in a complex VAT fraud against HMRC between January 2011 and March 2014, using fake Voice Over Internet Protocol airtime trades to offset VAT owed by a Midlands-based company from genuine trade in electrical goods and wholesale metals, resulting in more than £20 million being withheld from the public revenue.

Jan Ahmed, leaseholder of premises above a barber’s shop in Wembley, housed a family of five including three children in a cramped attic in a house of multiple occupation. The property had numerous fire safety failings including poor loft conversion, hole in landing, no fire alarm or firefighting equipment, no safe emergency exits from loft via steep unstable staircase and trapdoor without proper handle, non-fire doors with gaps, no emergency lighting, unprotected electrical mains switch box, hole in ceiling between landing and loft, and no fire risk assessment. Offences occurred in January 2015.

Jian Wen, a former takeaway worker, was convicted of money laundering involving a cryptocurrency wallet containing 150 Bitcoin. A Metropolitan Police investigation resulted in the seizure of Bitcoin wallets initially estimated at more than £300 million. She had risen from living above a restaurant to residing in a multi-million-pound rented house in an affluent part of North London. In 2019, she travelled to Dubai and purchased two properties worth more than £500,000. She denied knowing the Bitcoin was criminal property and claimed she worked for a Chinese national who asked her to make the purchases.

John Geddes was part of a gang that laundered £23.4 million between January 2018 and June 2020. He moved cash alongside Carlos Zapata and provided links to Irish and Kurdish criminal groups. The money was laundered through personal and business bank accounts and transferred to cryptocurrency traders.

John Bolter was caught in Bromley driving a Nissan Qashqai with 20kg of cocaine stashed in a hidden boot compartment. He was also found with a highly encrypted phone. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 23 April.

Paul Milsom, an FSA approved person employed by Legal and General Investment Management (Holdings) Ltd, disclosed inside information relating to forthcoming transactions in securities by LGIM between October 2008 and March 2010. A confiscation order of £245,000 was also made.

Former chief executive officer of collapsed investment firm London Capital & Finance plc (LCF), Michael Thomson, sold luxury items including horse saddles and a hot tub while under court restrictions imposed by a Serious Fraud Office restraint order. This is part of an SFO investigation into suspected fraud at LCF that led to 11,000 investors losing over £237m between 2014 and 2019.

Mohammed Zina was found guilty of six offences of insider dealing and three offences of fraud following a 12-week trial at Southwark Crown Court brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). He was sentenced to 22 months in prison.

Oerta Korfuzi received inside information from her brother Redinel Korfuzi, a research analyst at Janus Henderson, and traded in 13 stocks between 17 December 2019 and 25 March 2021, generating over £960,000 in profit. She was arrested in March 2021. The case involved insider dealing and an international money laundering operation with deposits into accounts in the UK and Albania.

Raj Von Badlo pleaded guilty to recklessly making false representations to investors and promoting a collective investment scheme without authorisation. Over 75 investors gave £4.29 million to Hope as a result of Von Badlo’s actions. He was sentenced on the same date as his co-defendant.

Robin Noble, aged 65, of Halstead near Sevenoaks, committed a series of sexual offences against one child victim between 2008 and 2012, and against a second child victim between 2005 and 2013. The abuse was reported to Kent Police and he was arrested on 13 December 2018. He was charged with multiple sexual offences involving children and six counts of making indecent images of children.

Rodica Gheorghe and her husband trafficked Romanian women to the UK between 2010 and 2019, forcing them into prostitution in brothels in London including Barking and Ilford. They advertised services online, took most earnings including £1,000 weekly advertising fees, fined women for sleeping, controlled movements, and transferred over £71,000 out of the UK.

Richard Baldwin laundered criminal property between October 2007 and November 2008, representing the proceeds of a conspiracy to insider deal by Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind. He used off-shore companies, bank accounts and false invoices to effect the money laundering, including receiving £1.5 million into a Panamanian company account in Zurich explained by a false invoice. He also breached a Restraint Order made in June 2011 by disposing of assets including withdrawing cash in Geneva and dealing with assets in safety deposit boxes.

Robert Clothier engaged in an online sting leading to charges of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, making indecent images of children, distributing an image of a child, and possessing prohibited images of children. He was remanded in custody since April 2013.

Richard Faithfull was found guilty of money laundering, contrary to s.327 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, as part of a trans-national organised crime group laundering the proceeds of at least 7 professionally run overseas investment frauds. He was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months imprisonment and disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.

Richard Joseph, a former futures trader, was provided with confidential and price-sensitive information from two investment banks concerning proposed or forthcoming takeover bids by Ersin Mustafa, a print room manager at JP Morgan Cazenove. Joseph placed spread bets between September 2007 and July 2008 resulting in a net profit of £591,117. Attempts were made to disguise the receipt of information using numerous Pay As You Go mobile telephones and webmail drop boxes. The information was used in the expectation that share prices would rise when made public.

Member of an organised criminal gang that stole hundreds of luxury SUVs from London and the Home Counties using relay station attacks and signal jamming. Vehicles were dismantled at industrial units including in Northamptonshire and Derbyshire, with parts exported to Lithuania. Some vehicles had identities changed via 'ringing'. Aged 46 of Fanns Rise, Purfleet, Essex. Two stolen rung vehicles and £2,000 cash recovered, plus number plate production equipment. Gang purchased over 350 blank number plates. Lithuanian national.

Ryan Willmott, former group reporting and financial planning manager for Logica PLC, admitted dealing on the basis of inside information obtained during his employment relating to the takeover of Logica PLC by CGI Group, announced on 31 May 2012. He set up a trading account in the name of a former girlfriend without her knowledge and disclosed inside information to a family friend who dealt on behalf of both. He pleaded guilty on 26 February 2015.

Samsul Chowdhury, 40, of Bethnal Green, handled stolen goods originating from a moped‑enabled robbery gang that snatched more than 100 mobile phones in just 18 days across London.

Involved in money laundering connected to a VAT fraud in which fake Voice Over Internet Protocol airtime trades were used to offset VAT owed by a Midlands-based company, contributing to more than £20 million being withheld from HMRC between January 2011 and March 2014.

Satish Kotinadhuni recruited mule bank accounts from dishonest individuals and vulnerable people on social media for a gang running a £10 million email payment diversion fraud. The gang monitored hacked accounts and spoofed emails to redirect large transfers.

He acted as an accomplice to the leader of a large investment fraud and transferred approximately £2.5 million in cryptocurrency on her behalf. Metropolitan Police surveillance of him led to the principal offender being located in York. Both were arrested in April 2024; assets seized included encrypted devices, cash, gold and further cryptocurrency.

Shiraz Khan was the co-head of a gang that laundered £23.4 million between January 2018 and June 2020. After arrest in December 2019, he continued laundering over £4.5 million, adapting tactics to use third-party companies and accounts. Encrypted messages discussed kidnap of a debtor's son to secure payment.

Participated in a VAT fraud against HMRC between January 2011 and March 2014, involving fake Voice Over Internet Protocol airtime trades used to offset VAT owed by a Midlands-based company from genuine trade in electrical goods and wholesale metals, causing more than £20 million to be withheld from the public revenue.

Walid Anis Choucair, an experienced day trader, received inside information from Fabiana Abdel-Malek about proposed mergers and acquisitions. He traded in Contracts for Difference through an offshore company and made approximately £1.4 million profit from the five charged offences. The offences related to five companies: Vodafone Group Plc’s acquisition of Kabel Deutschland Holding AG (June 2013), Essex Property Trust Inc’s acquisition of BRE Properties Inc. (November – December 2013), LG Household & Healthcare Ltd’s potential acquisition of Elizabeth Arden Inc. (April 2014), American Realty Capital Partners’ potential acquisition of NorthStar Realty Finance Corporation (April 2014), and Energy Transfer Equity LP’s potential acquisition of Targa Resources Corporation (June 2014). He was convicted after an eleven-week trial.

Walid Choucair, an experienced day trader, received inside information from Fabiana Abdel-Malek and made approximately £1.4 million profit from trading. He was convicted of five offences of insider dealing in 2013/4.

As CFO of Redcentric Plc, Tim Coleman inflated the company's cash position presented to the board and key investors. This led to the publication of false and misleading unaudited interim results in November 2015 (overstating cash by £13.1m) and audited final results in June 2016 (overstating cash by £12.2m). Shareholders suffered losses when the true position was revealed. He was found guilty of two offences of making false and misleading statements to the market and three offences of false accounting.

Tyrel Benjamin, 25, from Harrow, was caught in a covert police operation by the Met and South East Regional Organised Crime Unit after paying £150 to abuse a child. He had a previous 12-month suspended sentence for possessing indecent images. His latest offences included attempting to pay for a child’s sexual services, arranging child sex offences, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and distributing indecent images. On Friday, 15 November, he was sentenced to seven years in prison with an additional two years on extended licence at Southwark Crown Court.

In January 2012, Constantin and Valentina Mihai purchased a vulnerable 20-year-old woman for €10,000 in Romania and trafficked her to Ilford, East London, where she was forced to work as a prostitute for three years. Her identity documents were stolen, and she endured regular beatings, was fed alcohol and cocaine to keep her compliant, and was monitored through her phone. The woman escaped in April 2015 by saving for a plane ticket to Hungary. The family laundered money from the prostitution through money service bureaux and couriers.

Taheer Sardar was interviewed by the FCA as part of an investigation into a boiler room scam that defrauded 120 investors of £1.3m. Acting with Mr Mirza, he provided a forged document claiming it had been signed by 'Mohammed Khan' in order to bolster a defence raised by Raheel Mirza and Opeyemi Solaja. The FCA did not find that Mr Sardar was involved in the fraud itself, but he provided the document to mislead the FCA.