BANK BUSINESS MANAGER AND HIS FRIEND SENTENCED FOLLOWING AN INVESTIGATION INTO FRAUDULENT ACCOUNTS THAT HELPED THEM STEAL OVER £7.3 MILLION.
Two men from East London have been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to a combined nine-and-a-half years in prison for opening bank accounts which were used to launder money from fraud.
The sentencing follows investigation and arrest by specialist banking industry sponsored police unit, the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU).
Between 2017 and 2019, Jan Ciecierski and Rukon Miah, both 39, opened 394 fraudulent business accounts that were used to launder fraudulently obtained funds. Miah worked as a Business Manager at the bank and Ciecierski supplied counterfeit documents for Miah to open the accounts. The fraudulent money was then passed through the bank accounts to be cashed out or was sent to offshore banks.
The money funnelled through the accounts was mostly obtained by fraud committed against UK and International companies, including charities, as well as individuals.
Miah worked at the bank for six years before being arrested in 2019 for conspiracy to defraud the bank. Ciecierski was linked to the investigation as Miah provided the names, addresses and ID documents of the individuals, as well as counterfeit utility bills that were used to open the accounts.
In total, Ciecierski and Miah stole around £7.3 million from defrauding open bank accounts which subsequently were used to steal and receive money from fraudulent conduct.
Through the police’s investigation, they were able to find items such as ID cards, bank cards, cheque books, counterfeit bills and post from Miah and Ciecierski’s home address’ that matched the details of the fraudulent accounts, proving their involvement in this crime.
Ciecierski received four years in prison, whilst Miah received five-and-a-half years.
Detective Constable Ben O'Shea said:
Ciecierski and Miah enabled a huge amount of fraud to occur on a vast scale by utilising Miah job as a bank business manager to open fraudulent bank accounts and steal money. The fraud losses linked to these criminal’s actions are above £7 million, with no thought of how their terrible actions could affect the innocent charities and people that they targeted, those trying to make society a better place.
The police, in collaboration with the banking industry, working tirelessly to bring Ciecierski and Miah to justice and we are glad that they have been caught. We will continue to work hard to bring those who profit off fraud to justice.
