Business Man Jailed for Six Years after Laundering Money to Fund Rich Lifestyle
Property developer Aqeel Khan, aged 38, laundered millions of pounds in cash and conned financial institutions to fund his property portfolio and luxury sport cars. The National Criminal Agency (NCA) claim criminals across Northern England were in contact with the Bradford born Khan. Khan admitted to money laundering and fraud, he was jailed at Leicester Crown Court.
In total Khan’s network consisted of £10 million pounds worth of property assets which were largely funded by money laundering from various bank accounts to prevent suspicion.
Khan and his employee Mohammed Zulqurnain used insurance brokers as a shield for their activities, getting finance from established financial institutions for non-existent or inflated insurance policies. This money was then put into purchasing properties and financing Khan’s wealthy lifestyle.
Zulqurnain, aged 36, was jailed for two-and-a-half-years. Aqeel Khan’s brother, Atique Anwar Khan, aged 34, who controlled the distribution of cash into third party bank accounts, was given a six month suspended prison sentence.
An additional accomplice Ajib Khan, aged 34, who was previously convicted for supplying class A drugs, also confessed to money laundering into property. He was given a two year suspended sentence. The NCA claim up to £100,000 of cash contaminated with drugs was obtained from his home address.
NCA branch commander David Norris said, “Aqeel Khan presented himself as a successful and wealthy businessman and property developer.
“In reality this was all a front and he was the head of a large-scale, sophisticated money laundering operation “He was also defrauding financial institutions out of millions of pounds and using the profits to fund his own lavish lifestyle.
“Organised criminals need people who can launder their cash to make it look legitimate and this group provided that service on an industrial scale.
