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Socialite James Stunt has not been found guilty of a £ 266 million money wax power, one of the largest things in the UK ever for the violation.
The former son-in-law of Formula 1 magician Bernie Ecclestone was acquitted of one count of money laundering in a majority judgment by a jury at the Crown Court in the Cloth Hall in Leeds on Tuesday, said the Crown Prosecution Service in a statement.
During the trial, the jury members were told that Stunt, 43, a joint venture had started with Fowler Oldfield, a precious metals and jewelry dealer based in Bradford, of which prosecutors claimed to have been a financial “gateway” for criminals between 2014 and 2016. This was the second persecution for a jury after a money laundering of money laundering.
The case was aimed at large quantities of inexplicable cash that go through companies and are credited to the Fowler Oldfield account after he was collected from buildings, including the offices of Stunt. The money was supplied by couriers in sports bags, carrying bags and holdalls “full of hundreds of thousands of pounds at the same time”, the CPS said.
Four other defendants – Gregory Frankel, 47, Daniel Rawson, 47, Haroon Rashid, 54, and Arjun Babber, 33, were found guilty of money laundering by the jury. Frankel and Rawson were both directors of Fowler Oldfield.
“After a test that lasted for nine years, Mr Stunt is overwhelmingly relieved that he was completely acquitted of the offenses for which he has tried twice and has always denied fierce,” said his lawyer, Fiona Gavriel, in a statement.
The case “has taken an immeasurable toll, both at his company and his personal life,” Gavriel added.
Natwest was also prosecuted by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and received a fine of £ 265 million in 2021 for money laundering with regard to the case.
“This case is one of the largest money laundering of money ever brought to the courts in England and Wales,” said Hannah von Dadelszen, a division director in the serious economic crime group of the CPS.
She added: “It was a colossal amount of cash, undoubtedly derived from criminal activities.”