Socialite cleared of money laundering after trial

Socialite James Stunt has been cleared of taking part in a £200m money laundering operation.

Four other men were convicted in the biggest prosecution of its kind ever brought before a British judge.

During a five-month trial, Leeds Crown Court heard that the group was involved in an operation to launder criminals' cash and turn it into untraceable gold.

Gregory Frankel, Daniel Rawson, Haroon Rashid and Arjun Babber will be sentenced at a later date.

Mr Stunt, the former son-in-law of Formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, stood trial accused of allowing his prestigious Mayfair office to be used as "a trusted hub for money laundering" but denied the offence and was found not guilty by a jury.

Mr Stunt clapped his hands with relief in the dock as the verdict was delivered.

Rawson collapsed to the floor in tears as he was convicted by a unanimous verdict.

Neither Frankel, Rashid or Babber were in court as guilty verdicts were delivered against them.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the trio, who are believed to have fled the country.

They are due to be sentenced, alongside Rawson, on Friday.

Speaking after the verdicts, ACC Pat Twiggs of West Yorkshire Police said: "This was a sophisticated operation designed to launder a substantial amount of money connected to criminal activity in a number of regions across the UK.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that this cash is linked to organised crime activity, including drugs and wider criminality and I am pleased that we successfully demonstrated that to the court.

"By doing so we have uncovered a wider network of criminality and managed to cause significant disruption to their activities."

"At no point during our investigation did anyone come forward to claim any of the money that we seized."

The court had previously been told that between 2014 and 2016, money was brought from across the UK to Bradford jewellers Fowler Oldfield, Mr Stunt's business premises in London, and a company called Pure Nines Ltd, based in Hatton Garden.

The prosecution had claimed Mr Stunt and his co-defendants intended to hide the criminal origin of the cash by washing it through a company bank account and using the proceeds to buy gold which was shipped to Dubai.

But when asked by his lawyer while giving evidence if he believed he was "entering into a criminal agreement to facilitate the deposit of criminal proceeds of crime", Mr Stunt replied: "Absolutely not."

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