Essex and Westminster Men Bag Years Behind Bars for £15 Million Alcohol Money Laundering Scam
Jonathan Porter, 57, from Loughton, Essex, and Peter Stanley, 64, from Westminster, have been slammed with hefty jail terms after a £15 million money laundering scheme was uncovered at Southwark Crown Court.
Fake Alcohol Broker Fronts Massive Cash Operation
Porter, the director of Europlus Trading Ltd, an alcohol broker, claimed he was supplying wholesalers in Calais. He insisted French customers paid in Sterling cash, collected by couriers supervised by Stanley and brought to Europlus’ Greenwich base.
But prosecutors revealed the pair were actually raking in millions from London’s cash and carry wholesalers—selling non-duty paid booze and funneling the proceeds through Europlus bank accounts. Between April 2014 and June 2015, a staggering £15 million was laundered.
Cash Couriers Caught Red-Handed
- Stanley personally delivered £7.5 million of the dirty cash.
- He was arrested with £41,500 outside Europlus on 11 June 2015.
- A warehouse search found £45,000 stashed in a safe.
- Porter was caught with several thousand pounds at his home.
- HMRC has seized the cash and destroyed non-UK duty paid alcohol from wholesalers involved.
Heavy Sentences and Tough HMRC Crackdown
After a gruelling ten-week trial, Porter was handed seven years in jail and slapped with a 10-year ban from being a company director. Stanley scored five years and nine months behind bars.
“Money laundering is not a victimless crime. Laundered cash funds other serious crimes that bring harm and misery to communities,” said Terry Braithwaite, Assistant Director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service. “We encourage anyone who suspects fraud to report it via GOV.UK.”
HMRC is now pushing to seize the stolen millions and is pursuing Serious Crime Prevention Orders against both men to stop future offences.
