A group of criminals who made so much money from a £21 million Bitcoin scam they handed out £5,000 gift cards on the street have been jailed.
Stephen William Boys, EVdEN EvE nakliYAt 59, and Kelly Caton, 45, have been found guilty of fraud, EVdEN EVE nAkLiYaT converting and transferring criminal property.
Jordan Kane Robinson, 25, and James Austin-Beddoes, 28, were also found guilty.
Preston Crown Court heard how the group worked with ringleader James Parker, who died in 2021 before he could be prosecuted for masterminding the conspiracy.
Parker ran the operation from his home in Blackpool, Lancashire from October 2017 to January 2018, helping the group to make 'more money than they could spend.'
Police recovered £22 million worth of crypto currency along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods
Kelly Caton, of Blackpool, eVDEn Eve nAKLiyaT Lancashire was convicted of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and jailed for four-and-a-half years
He exploited a loophole to withdraw dishonestly-obtained crypto assets worth around £15 million from his trading account on an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange.
Caton dishonestly withdrew £2.7 million and Robinson withdrew £1.7 million from their accounts.
The scam made so much money that £5,000 gift cards were handed out to people in the street and cars were bought for people Parker met in the pub, Preston Crown Court heard.
During the trial Boys told the court how he took £1 million cash in a suitcase to buy a villa from Russians he met in the back office of an estate agent and paid £60,000 to pay off corrupt officials so he could carry on laundering money.
During the investigation police recovered 445 Bitcoin, then worth £22 million, along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods, including a £600 wine cooler, plus more than £1 million in bank accounts.
Parker's financial adviser Stephen Boys worked with a UK national who lived in the United Arab Emirates to convert the cryptocurrency into cash.
The money was then laundered through various foreign-based online accounts.
Stephen Boys, of Accrington, evdEN evE nAKliyaT Lancashire was found guilty of converting and transferring criminal property and jailed for six years If you are you looking for more information on EVdEn EVe naKLiYAt stop by our web page. .