These are just some of the high-flying criminals who thought they could get away with a life of crime. Fraudsters spent the cash and spent their ill-gotten gains on luxury cars and holidays.
Two business bosses created bogus invoices from bogus companies to avoid paying £1.3million in tax. Another elaborate tax scam saw a former couple team up to submit fraudulent VAT refund claims to HMRC.
Meanwhile, another fraudster fled the UK during a £500,000 number plate fraud trial – and spent more than five years on the run, boasting about living a life of luxury, meeting celebrities and flying planes. You can read more about all three cases in our overview below.
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Textile bosses evaded £1.3million in tax
Bosses at a Midlands textile firm set up bogus subcontractors to avoid paying £1.3million in tax. The duo created fake invoices from fake companies to avoid paying VAT.
Ehsan-Ul-Haque Dawood Patel and Hifzurehman Patel then splashed their ill-gotten gains on cars and property. The fraudsters set up Midlands Trading Ltd in 2014, with HMRC becoming suspicious of the firm’s activities the following year.
In 2015, an unannounced inspection was carried out at the factory in Benson Street, Spinney Hills, Leicester, with a specialist task force finding that staff work cards had “completely disappeared” during their visit and false invoices had also been handed over, LeicestershireLive reports. .
Hifzurehman was convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court of conspiracy to evade VAT and two counts of money laundering and was jailed for five years. Ehsan was jailed for 47 months after pleading guilty to the same three charges.
A £1.3m fraudster blew a fortune on his Lego obsession
This fraudster spent £1.3million of taxpayers’ money on his obsession with Legos, luxury cars and luxury holidays. Lee Hickinbottom’s elaborate tax scam saw him conspire with ex-partner Tabatha Knott, 36, to make fraudulent VAT refund claims with HMRC.
A ‘greedy career criminal’ splashed £1,500 on Lego sets, went to New York’s Empire State Building and blew £250,000 on cars including a Jaguar F Pace, Jaguar XF and Land Rover Defender. Hickinbottom submitted most of the claims for his fictitious business, Serenity Community Transport, and provided false invoices. He also admitted benefit fraud totaling £28,000.
Hickinbottom, from Dudley, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of multiple counts of defrauding the Inland Revenue (HMRC and DWP). Knott was found guilty of one count of revenue fraud and one count of money laundering and received an 18-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.
A fugitive con artist lived a life of luxury on the run in Dubai
Birmingham fraudster Zahid Khan spent more than five years on the run after fleeing the UK in 2018 while on trial for £500,000 number plate fraud. He shamelessly taunted the police and the courts with regular Facebook posts showing off his luxurious life on the run.
Zahid spent most of his years on the run holed up in Dubai, where he continued to boast on Facebook about his life of luxury, meeting celebrities and flying planes. In 2021 he traveled to Turkey where he was arrested and deported back to the UK in November 2023.
Four Turkish police officers accompanied him on the flight back to Manchester, where he was met by British police on arrival on the plane on December 22. Khan was brought before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court the following day on a charge of failure to surrender. Here’s the full story of his 10-year wild ride as a cynically portrayed Ferrari lover, mingling celebrity, helping the homeless, millionaire pilot and successful businessman who was simply the target of ‘envious haters’. .