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Four people were acquitted by a jury on Wednesday after an alleged £266mn money laundering trial – one of the biggest ever in the UK.
A jury at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday found four defendants not guilty of one count of money laundering but said on Wednesday they were unable to reach verdicts on four other men – including 40-year-old socialite James Stunt from west London – who now face a retrial. is .
The long-running criminal trial, which began in May, centered on prosecutors’ allegations that Fowler used criminal cash from illicit activities deposited into his NatWest Bank account to buy Oldfield, the Bradford gold dealership at the center of an alleged £266mn money laundering operation. The gold, which was then sent to Dubai, was beyond the reach of the UK authorities. All eight defendants at trial denied one count of money laundering.
Francesca Sota, 34, Stunt’s former personal assistant, Ex-stunt employee Alex Tulloch, 41, along with two former Fowler Oldfield employees – Paul Miller, 45, from Wetherby, and accountant Heidi Buckler, 46, from Leeds – were all acquitted of money laundering charges by a jury at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday.
The jury was unable to reach verdicts on Stunt and former Fowler Oldfield employees Gregory Frankel, 44, of Leeds, and Daniel Rawson, 45, of Leeds, and Bradford jeweler Haroon Rasheed, 51.
Along with Sota, Stunt was also acquitted of a separate charge of forgery by the jury.
The 11-strong jury, who deliberated for almost 30 hours and who went through an eight-month trial, were discharged on Wednesday afternoon by trial judge Andrew Stubbs Casey.
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