Farleys’ criminal law specialists were instructed to represent a client who had been arrested in respect of money laundering.
Background
Our client, Ms E, was a Chinese national living in the UK and was a single parent of a young child. Prior to instructing Farleys, she had been arrested after her vehicle was stopped travelling from Manchester to Preston and over £90,000 was found in a bin bag in the footwell of the vehicle and £560 in her handbag.
Her vehicle and a number of designer watches and handbags were also seized from her address along with a further £926.
When questioned by the police, Ms E stated that the money was hers from the sale of vapes. Using Chinese currency from her bank account in China, she would pay for vapes to be exported to the UK, specifically a shop in Manchester. The owner of that shop would then pay her in cash. She would then use that cash to exchange currency with the Chinese Students at the university.
How Farleys Were Able to Help
Lorraine Eccles of Farleys’ criminal defence team was instructed to represent Ms E during her police station interview and throughout the subsequent investigation.
Lorraine initially advised Ms E to exercise her right to silence so that our team could obtain evidence of her account.
We secured documents from China confirming that she had a large amount of money from the sale of her matrimonial home following her divorce. She was also able to produce receipts for the designer watches and handbags. We then facilitated a further interview in which she was able to evidence this and provide her account, denying the money laundering.
Ms E did have to admit that she was not being regulated as a Money Service Bureau and so the money was subject to confiscation proceedings; however, our team were able to negotiate some of the money being returned to her. She was also able to secure the return of her car, designer handbags and watches.
Through the work of Lorraine and her team, Ms E avoided prosecution for the money laundering offence and agreed to accept a “cease and desist notice” from the police. The notice meant she could not exchange money with Chinese students in the future otherwise she would face prosecution. This would be an offence which would carry a custodial sentence.
Ms E was extremely satisfied with the conclusion.
Lorraine Eccles commented,
I was pleased to achieve this outcome for our client. She was under investigation for nearly 12 months, so I think we achieved the best possible result for her. Cease and desist notices are particularly rare these days; in the 25 years I’ve been working in criminal defence, I hadn’t come across one, so being offered one was a particularly good result.
Contact a Criminal Defence Solicitor
We have a team of experienced criminal defence specialists with particular expertise in representing clients during police investigations and interviews. For advice specific to your case, please call our team on 0845 287 0939 or get in touch by email. We also operate a 24-hour emergency out of hours line on 07843 976515.
