Covid fraudster who scammed millions from PPE deals and bought house is jailed

Covid fraudster who scammed millions from PPE deals and bought house is jailed Craig Morris, 43, and his boss Jogesh Bhandari, 60, splashed out hundreds of thousands of pounds on luxury goods following a PPE scam during the Covid pandemic A fraudster who splashed out on luxury cars, watches and holidays following a Covid pandemic PPE scam have been jailed. Craig Morris, 43, and his boss Jogesh Bhandari, 60, were convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation after a five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court in July. Together the pair spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on luxury cars, watches, holidays and a new home after pretending they could supply millions of boxes of nitrile gloves in the US and Germany. Bhandari’s wife, former pharmacist Meenakshi Bhandari, 58, was found guilty of money laundering after the couple used the money to buy Rolexes and cars including an Audi A5, a Land Rover Discovery and a Porsche worth £126,000. On Wednesday, Morris was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison at Northampton Crown Court, and Meenakshi Bhandari was handed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, 250 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. The court heard that Jogesh Bhandari did not attend the hearing because he told his counsel he was taking a “very extreme painkiller” after having a pacemaker fitted last week and was not able to travel to Northampton. Judge William Harbage KC sentenced the other two defendants in his absence because “the case cannot just be put off and put off at Mr Bhandari’s will”. The judge said there is “no medical evidence” to properly explain Jogesh Bhandari’s absence at the sentencing hearing and a bench warrant will be issued for him. Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told the court Jogesh Bhandari was the “driving force and the instigator” of the offending, while Morris was “very much working for” him. He said: “The offences took place during the Covid-19 pandemic at a time when there was a desperate shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). “In that shortage, the offenders, particularly Mr Bhandari and Mr Morris, saw the opportunity to make money by fraud.” The court heard that Jogesh Bhandari and Morris made fraudulent deals under a company called Banton. He continued: “They pretended to be big players in the PPE market. They pretended to have PPE for sale and to be able to buy vast amounts of it.” The court heard they defrauded US company Med18 and German firm MedTech by sending contracts for equipment they did not have. Mr Bisgrove said: “In the course of the fraud, they took millions of pounds which they used for their own benefit – to buy cars, luxury goods and property.” The court heard the Bhandaris, of Mitchell Drive in Loughborough, Leicestershire, also used money to pay off family debt. Morris, of All Saints Road in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, who is a father of two teenage children, bought a house, the court heard. The value of money Jogesh Bhandari obtained and kept in the course of the fraud was £1.75 million, and Meenakshi Bhandari laundered money to the value of £960,000, the court heard. Morris had been receiving regular £5,000 payments from Jogesh Bhandari before the two men fell out at the end of 2021, the National Crime Agency (NCA) previously said. Bhandari worked with Frank Labruzzo, a US assistant attorney general at the Louisiana State Department of Justice, who provided a fraudulent escrow service – a bank account which holds funds until pre-arranged conditions are met. The court heard that Labruzzo and another person involved have been convicted and sentenced in the US. Jogesh Bhandari is expected to be sentenced on October 16. Sentencing Morris and Meenakshi Bhandari, Judge Harbage said the pandemic was a time when “all of us had to make sacrifices and pull together for the good of society as a whole”. He added: “There were a few people though who sought to exploit that to make money for themselves, motivated by greed. “I’m satisfied Jogesh Bhandari and Craig Morris fall into that category.”