Tuesday, November 02, 2010, 10:00

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Broker-cleared-money-laundering/article-2824174-detail/article.html

An international money broker was cleared of laundering £200 million for fraud gangs after insisting he had no idea his company was being used by crooks.

Roy Young, 47, of Veryan, Truro, Cornwall, a former director at City giants Tullett Prebon, was said to have transferred vast sums stolen from the taxpayer in VAT scams out of the UK.

It was claimed he used the private currency exchange business he set up after leaving Tullett to help more than 100 criminal clients clean up the proceeds of their frauds.

Southwark Crown Court heard the funds – generated by "carousel frauds" – were sent to bank accounts in the Middle East, Europe and the West Indies.

But, giving evidence, Young maintained he had no idea his company was being used by fraudsters, adding that he had believed money laundering was only related to cash transactions, rather than bank transfers.

After deliberating for nearly a week, the jury cleared married father-of-three Young of seven counts of money laundering between October 2004 and June 2006.

The former compliance officer at his firm, Anthony Munden, 46, was accused of turning a blind eye to his colleague's illegal activities, but he too was acquitted of any involvement.

Young first worked at Tullett from 1988 to 1997 as a specialist in Dollar/Deutschmark exchanges, and then again from 2002, after taking time out for a business degree.

In 2004, Young left Tullett, where he said his annual salary was £65,000, to set up a new business called World Wide Currencies, based in a quiet office block in the London suburb of Bromley.

But it was claimed he used the firm as a vehicle for money laundering.

Prosecutor David Barnard said: "In effect, put in simple terms, that agency was being used by criminals as a way of laundering what is popularly called dirty money.

"The company had in the region of 290 corporate clients, of which the crown say 100 are engaged in fraud."

On June 25, 2007, customs officials raided his then home in Weald Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, seizing two laptops from upstairs bedrooms.

His internet history revealed that during the period of the fraud, he had made a series of searches relating to missing traders.

One article had the headline "Shop VAT fraudsters, or else".

During the trial, Young insisted he had no idea that his company was being used by criminals.

He said: "My understanding of money laundering at the time was about dealing with cash, and we weren't a cash business."