Convictions obtained against ten on payday loan fraud

Richard Hearnden and Kemi Fapohunda secured the convictions of all nine defendants who stood trial in a fraud and money laundering case at the Old Bailey. The six women and three men join a tenth defendant who pleaded guilty in the spring, and will be sentenced next month. 

The jury heard that a well-known payday lender had been cheated out of over £3 million through the identity theft of tens of thousands of innocent people. Some of the loans had been applied for by the lead defendant. He had tried to conceal his digital footprint using hotel wifi to access the lender’s website. The other nine defendants all laundered the money by transferring the funds through their bank accounts and withdrawing thousands of pounds in cash.