As stated by the Regional Organised Crime Unit of the West Midlands region, all of those involved in the money laundering operation were jailed on Friday January 6th.
Marcus Justin Hughes, the effective operator of Genesis 2014 (Ltd) UK, a road haulage business, was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment at Stoke Crown Court for two counts of conspiracy to launder cash together along with Leon Woolley, a transport planner at the firm who was sentenced to five and half years for the same offences imprisonment.
In addition, it is stated that Nicholas Fern and Damion Morgan, drivers working for Hughes, were convicted of a single count of conspiracy to launder cash over a period of months and sentenced to five and half years imprisonment each.
Finally, Liam Bailey, a further transport planner at the firm, and Simon Davies, a business associate of Hughes, were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to launder money and sentenced to three and half years and eight years imprisonment respectively.
Commenting on the case, Detective Inspector Jonathan Jones of the Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands said:
“These men were part of a nationally significant Organised Crime Group offering professional money laundering services to criminals up and down the country, and beyond. Their convictions and sentences will be a warning to deter others from involvement in money laundering which is as abhorrent as the crimes that generate the cash in the first place. Close cooperation and tireless effort from the outset between the police, CPS Serious Economic Organised Crime and International Directorate and instructed counsel was the key to success in this case £701,685.75 has already been forfeited in civil proceedings from this OCG with half of this returning to Staffordshire Police via the Home Office Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme to contribute to fighting crime in the county.’’
