A fraudster who swindled medical companies out of millions through fake PPE deals during the Covid-19 pandemic has been jailed.
Craig Morris, 43, alongside his employer Jogesh Bhandari, 60, spent hundreds of thousands on luxury cars, watches, holidays and property after falsely claiming they could supply millions of boxes of nitrile gloves to customers in the United States and Germany.
Morris and Bhandari were found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation following a five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court in July.
Sentencing at Northampton Crown Court
Bhandari's wife, former pharmacist Meenakshi Bhandari, 58, was convicted of money laundering after the couple used the funds to buy Rolexes and vehicles including an Audi A5, a Land Rover Discovery and a Porsche worth £126,000.
On Wednesday, Morris was handed a jail sentence of three years and nine months at Northampton Crown Court, while Meenakshi Bhandari received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, 250 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity, reports the Irish Mirror.
The court heard that Jogesh Bhandari did not attend the hearing because he told his solicitor he was taking a "very extreme painkiller" following a pacemaker operation last week and was unable to travel to Northampton. Judge William Harbage KC proceeded to sentence the remaining two defendants in Bhandari's absence, stating that "the case cannot just be put off and put off at Mr Bhandari's will".
Fraudulent transactions through Banton
The judge declared there is "no medical evidence" to sufficiently account for Jogesh Bhandari's failure to appear at the sentencing hearing, and a bench warrant is to be issued for his arrest.
Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told the court that 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 was told that Jogesh Bhandari and Morris carried out fraudulent transactions through 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 that the pair swindled American firm Med18 and German business MedTech by issuing contracts for equipment they did not have in their possession.
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 was further informed that the Bhandaris, from Mitchell Drive in Loughborough, Leicestershire, also used funds to clear family debts.
Motivated by greed
Morris, from All Saints Road in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, who has two teenage children, bought a property, the court heard. It was stated in court that Jogesh Bhandari fraudulently obtained and retained £1.75 million, while Meenakshi Bhandari laundered funds amounting to £960,000.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) had previously disclosed that Morris had been receiving regular payments of £5,000 from Jogesh Bhandari before the pair fell out at the end of 2021.
Bhandari had been operating alongside Frank Labruzzo, a US assistant attorney general at the Louisiana State Department of Justice, who facilitated a fraudulent escrow service – a bank account designed to hold funds until pre-agreed conditions are fulfilled.
The court was further informed that Labruzzo and another individual connected to the scheme have since been convicted and sentenced in the United States.
Jogesh Bhandari is due to be sentenced on October 16.
When delivering sentences to Morris and Meenakshi Bhandari, Judge Harbage commented that the pandemic was a period when "all of us had to make sacrifices and pull together for the good of society as a whole".
He continued: "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."
