Wealthy socialite 'laundered £200m of crime cash'

A wealthy socialite led an operation to launder more than £200m of criminals' cash, a jury has been told.

James Stunt is on trial at Leeds Crown Court along with four other men in the biggest money laundering prosecution ever brought before a British judge.

Some of the "dirty" money was delivered to the premises of Bradford gold dealer Fowler Oldfield, while a Hatton Garden business called Pure Nines was also used to "clean" large sums obtained by criminality between 2014 and 2016, the court heard.

Mr Stunt is accused of being in partnership with both companies. He and co-defendants Gregory Frankel, Daniel Rawson, Haroon Rashid and Arjun Babber deny the charges.

Prosecutors alleged cash was paid directly into the Natwest account of Fowler Oldfield, which was run by Mr Frankel and Mr Rawson, and then used to buy and sell gold, giving the criminal proceeds an appearance of legitimacy.

Jonathan Sandiford KC told the court: “The cash delivered and paid into the account did not belong to Haroon Rashid, Arjun Babber and others who arranged or made the deliveries or deposits.

"It belonged to unidentified criminals to whom they and Fowler Oldfield were providing a money laundering service.

“Between 2014 and 2016, over £200m in dirty, criminal cash was paid into the Fowler Oldfield account to 'launder' it - that is, to give it the appearance of being clean money from a legitimate source.”

The money was then allegedly used to purchase gold from reputable bullion suppliers. Mr Stunt’s company Stunt & Co, which had an office in the London district of Mayfair, also took in tens of millions of pounds.

“James Stunt began to share in the profits generated by the money laundering service provided by Fowler Oldfield, taking the lion’s share of 70%,” Mr Sandiford said.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr Stunt and the other defendants were in partnership with the owner of Pure Nines, Samir Jagirdar, and Dubai-based international money launderer Shahid Qadar.

Qadar was introduced to Mr Frankel and Mr Rawson by co-defendant Arjun Babber as the ‘kingpin’ in Dubai, whose requirements were too great for Mr Babber to meet.

At that point the money laundering operation "grew to a massive scale", Mr Sandiford said.

From January to September 2016, £88m was delivered to the Bradford business, with another £15m to Stunt & Co and £17m to Pure Nines in Hatton Garden.

Mr Rawson, Mr Rashid and Mr Babber deny that they knew that the cash was criminal property.

The money likely originated from "large-scale drug dealing" but could also have been generated by fraud, tax evasion or human trafficking, the prosecution outlined.

Fowler Oldfield set up CCTV to reassure couriers delivering cash that it was being counted correctly, but police were able to view the footage after raiding the premises.

“The CCTV recordings meant that if any crook or courier challenged the sum of cash counted and logged, the arrival, opening and counting of the cash could be reviewed to ensure it was correct and no cash had been stolen,” Mr Sandiford told the jury.

The trial continues.

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