Group convicted over multi-million pound PPE fraud during Covid pandemic
Businesses were tricked into paying for protective gloves that were never delivered, with money instead spent on luxury cars, watches and home improvements
Last updated 17 hours ago
A group who fraudulently claimed they could supply PPE during the Covid pandemic have been convicted after spending hundreds of thousands of pounds from the scam on luxury items.
The group made fake deals to businesses promising to deliver millions of boxes of protective gloves.
The businesses paid millions of pounds for equipment that was never delivered.
The group used forged documents, including fake bank statements showing access to millions of pounds, to convince suppliers they were legitimate.
Instead of being used to buy PPE, some of the money was spent on luxury items, including cars, watches, holidays and home improvements.
Those involved in the fraud
The group included 59-year-old Jogesh Bhandari from Loughborough, who controlled a company set up in 2020 to trade PPE, and 43-year-old Craig Morris from Lytham St Annes in Lancashire.
Bhandari worked with Frank Labruzzo, a US Assistant Attorney General at the Louisiana State Department of Justice, who provided a fake escrow service to make the deals appear legitimate. Labruzzo has since been convicted in the United States.
Bhandari’s wife, 58-year-old Meenakshi Bhandari, was also charged with money laundering after investigators said she was aware money used in the business account came from fraudulent activity.
Millions paid for PPE that never arrived
The NCA says one deal saw Bhandari receive more than 3.18 million US dollars for PPE that was meant to be delivered to US hospitals, but never arrived.
In another deal, a supplier paid 1.35 million US dollars after being told Bhandari had access to hundreds of millions of pounds and had secured funding — but the money was not used for PPE.
Luxury spending uncovered by investigators
Investigators also found £126,000 was spent on a new Porsche, while hundreds of thousands more went towards Rolex watches, jewellery, other vehicles and luxury travel.
More than 47,000 WhatsApp messages and emails were exchanged between the group.
In one message, Morris suggested they should “milk” the PPE shortage, while Bhandari talked about making money from the deals.
Convictions
Bhandari, Morris and Meenakshi Bhandari were arrested in February 2023 and convicted following a five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court.
They will be sentenced on 21 August.
A time of uncertainty
Paul Boniface, operations manager at the National Crime Agency, said:
"All of this activity occurred at the height of the pandemic where the demand for PPE went through the roof.
"Bhandari and his co-conspirators capitalised on these vulnerabilities by exploiting people and businesses for their own financial gain, paying for lavish lifestyles of luxury cars and significant home improvements.
"Fraud like this diverts essential equipment away from genuine organisations and the effects are far reaching, beyond immediate losses for the legitimate businesses involved."