£250K Fraud and Money Laundering Case Ends Up With Community Service Only

Fraud in the UK costs the economy in England and Wales £137 billion each year.  According to police-recorded crime statistics, fraud accounted for 15% of all crimes in England and Wales in 2021.

Ms P, client of Stuart Miller Solicitors, was charged with 3 offences for her actions in a fraud and money laundering scheme conducted over a year from 2018 to 2019.

Ms P was charged with “fraud by abuse of position” amounting to approximately £250,000 under the UK’s 2006 Fraud Act, “committing an act or series of acts with intent to pervert the course of public justice” and “concealing, disguising, converting, transferring and removing criminal property”.

At her Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing, Ms P pled guilty to the charges.

Reem Khatib – expert fraud criminal defence solicitor of Stuart Miller Solicitors – personally prepared her case for sentencing and endeavored to get the best possible case outcome for our client.

The offences occurred as a result of years of exploitation of our client at the hands of her family.

Ms P was employed by Base Contracts as an Administrator in February of 2018. As her job progressed, she was increasingly responsible for digitising timesheets and invoices for labour subcontractors.

This change to her role increased her anxiety greatly as the workload was so large. Ms P has suffered from complex mental health issues, severe anxiety and depression her whole life due to trauma.

Between June and October 2018, 4 men were enrolled on the company as ghost employees. Over this time, Base Contracts lost almost £188,747.17 in money transfers.

After an in-house company-wide audit, Base Contracts uncovered 4 names that they were not familiar with. The company conducted internal investigations that showed Ms P’s family connections with the 4 men.

The police were contacted once the company confirmed that it was indeed Ms P defrauding them.

Ms P was arrested at a London airport in March of 2019. After her interview with the police, Ms P attempted to offer to pay back money to the company she had defrauded. This was considered a “perversion of the course of public justice” and Ms P was charged.

In order to demonstrate that our client did not deserve to serve the full sentence prescribed in the guidelines, Reem Khatib – Stuart Miller Solicitor, presented mitigating circumstances to the judge and court which greatly reduced her sentence.

If Ms P received a custodial sentence, she would be facing up to 5 years imprisonment.

Reem Khatib presented evidence to the court that showed Ms P is a single mother with no close family due to generational trauma and abuse. She suffers from debilitating mental health caused by severe trauma experienced in childhood and throughout her life.

Considering the evidence presented, the court suspended Ms P’s sentence and ordered her to perform community service.

Our client was not sentenced to a custodial sentence and returned to her daughter.