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High society member James Stunt waves his hand as he arrives at an earlier hearing at Leeds Crown Court on money laundering charges.
Socialist James Stunt has taken “a very practical approach” when it comes to his company in a “sophisticated” money laundering operation, a court said.
The ex-husband of heiress Petra Ecclestone is one of 8 defendants on trial for an alleged scheme, which the court said saw £266 million deposited in Bradford Gold Fowler Oldfield’s bank account over two years.
Prosecutors say “crime money” entered business addresses that were owned or controlled by Stunt and his co-defendants between January 2014 and September 2016.
Leeds Cloth Hall Court has already learned that thousands of books have been brought at once with bags and handbags at Fowler Oldfield in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Prosecutor Nicholas Clarke QC claimed the defendants concealed the origin of the cash by moving it into a corporate bank account and the proceeds to buy gold.
On Wednesday, jurors saw messages between Stunt workers and co-defendants Alex Tulloch and Francesca Sota, and Fowler Oldfield staff. The court heard a message from Tulloch in November 2015: “However, James is satisfied. . . James needs to know what his benefit is for this week. Worried about profit, etc.
The court was informed of another message from Tulloch in April 2016, when Stunt was living outside the country, which read: “Make sure you are up to date at least daily in £ in London and Bradford. Gold sold: Lock ins (Scotia), Cookson’s, Dubai. Refining: Any curtain coming out of the refinery.
Clarke said Stunt has taken a “very strict approach” as a specialist owner and manager.
“However, the emails, among others, show that he is very aware and legal of what is happening. “
Socialite James Stunt ‘heavily involved’ in alleged cash laundering scheme, court heard
Five Fowler Oldfield defendants — Greg Frankel, Daniel Rawson, Paul Miller, Heidi Buckler and Haroon “Harry” Rashid — say prosecutors can’t reveal the scammer’s property.
Stunt and the defendants at his company, Tulloch and Sota, say they “don’t know if that’s the case,” the court heard.
But prosecutors say it is “absolutely evident that this is fraudulent cash” and that each of the defendants “must at least have suspected that the source of the cash is of fraudulent origin. “
Bradford-based Fowler Oldfield is at the centre of the wash, the court has said.
Jurors were informed that West Yorkshire Police had introduced Operation Larkshot to investigate gigantic sums credited to Fowler Oldfield’s bank account and collected at 3 sites: Fowler Oldfield’s own premises, James Stunt’s offices in central London and a new company called Pure Nines in Hatton Garden.
Clarke said giant sums of money were being paid into a Fowler Oldfield Limited bank account since 2014.
He told the jury that they had aroused the suspicions of bank staff because “they were of such an amount, on a basis, that it could come from a Premier League football stadium on an apt day or from a position or occasion of similar size”. “.
The wider investigation found that from 1 January 2014 to 16 September 2016, more than £266 million in unknown money and deposits were paid into Fowler Oldfield’s bank account, the court said.
The 8 defendants deny the laundering and Stunt and Sota deny the forgery.
Stunt married Ms Ecclestone, daughter of F1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, in Italy in 2011. They had three children together but divorced in 2017.
High society member James Stunt waves his hand as he arrives at an earlier hearing at Leeds Crown Court on money laundering charges.
Pennsylvania
Socialite James Stunt ‘heavily involved’ in alleged cash laundering scheme, court heard
Pennsylvania
Bradford-based Fowler Oldfield is at the centre of the wash, the court has said.
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