Indian-Origin Designer Clothing Scamster Ordered To Repay Millions Of Pounds
An Indian-origin mastermind of a fake designer clothing scam, sentenced earlier over one of the UK's largest tax frauds, has been ordered to pay back over 90 million pounds in a court ruling this week.
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British Court Orders Indian-Origin Fraudster to Return Over 90 Million Pounds
London:
An Indian-origin kingpin behind an elaborate counterfeit designer clothing operation, previously convicted in one of Britain's largest tax fraud cases, has been mandated to repay more than 90 million pounds following a court decision this week.
Arif Patel, a 57-year-old former clothing manufacturer from Preston in north-west England who currently resides in Dubai, was found guilty of false accounting, conspiracy to defraud public revenue, and money laundering in 2023.
On Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced it had secured a Confiscation Order against Patel at Chester Crown Court, enabling authorities to liquidate his assets to recover the owed funds.
"The CPS has worked diligently with HMRC [His Majesty's Revenue and Customs] and Lancashire Police to ensure that Arif Patel could not retain profits from his counterfeit designer clothing operation and fraudulent VAT claims," stated Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division. "He must now repay more than 90 million pounds or face additional prison time on top of his original sentence. In the past five years, 478 million pounds have been recovered through CPS-obtained Confiscation Orders, preventing thousands of convicted criminals from benefiting from their crimes. Over 95 million pounds of these funds have been returned to victims as compensation," he added.
According to prosecutors, Patel and his criminal network misappropriated 33.4 million pounds from the British government through fabricated Value Added Tax (VAT) repayment claims on nonexistent exports of textiles and mobile phones. They additionally imported and distributed counterfeit apparel valued at over 19.19 million pounds by establishing an intricate network of shell companies to conceal their activities. Proceeds from this operation were invested in real estate across Preston and London using offshore banking channels, the CPS reported.
"Arif Patel enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle at the expense of law-abiding citizens, but he will now forfeit the property empire he built with criminal proceeds," said Richard Las, Director of HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service.
"Our work continues beyond conviction. For the past two years, we've collaborated with police and CPS partners to secure one of the largest criminal confiscations we've ever recovered. Tens of millions of pounds in stolen funds will now be returned to directly support public services," he explained.
Following trial proceedings in April 2023, Patel was sentenced in absentia to 20 years' imprisonment for tax fraud in the UK. At that time, the UK tax authority reported that a total of 26 members of the criminal organization had been convicted and sentenced following six trials between 2011 and 2023, resulting in combined prison sentences of 147 years and seven months.
Mark Winstanley, Assistant Chief Constable from Lancashire Police, commented this week: "Arif Patel headed a Preston-based Organized Crime Group responsible for causing millions of pounds in losses to multiple companies. His actions, driven by greed, directly impacted taxpayers. A multi-agency operation involving Lancashire police and HMRC has worked persistently to advance confiscation proceedings to this point. The Confiscation Order granted for 90,503,211 pounds will ensure funds return to the public treasury, recovering his criminal gains." According to HMRC, Arif Patel traveled to Dubai in July 2011 and has not returned to the UK since before his conviction and sentencing.