Three fund managers have been sentenced to 12 years and 3 months in prison after a seven-year investigation into mishandling of Libyan sovereign wealth funds.
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said it had launched an investigation after one of the three, Frederic Marino, fled to Norway shortly after leaving a meeting with auditors in London.
French national Marino and co-conspirator Aurélien Besso set up the investment firm FM Capital Partners (FMCP) in Knightsbridge to invest on behalf of the Libya and Africa Investment Portfolio (LAIP).
However, it was discovered that they had made these investments through Swiss banker Yoshiki Omura, resulting in finder fees declared and laundered through several dummy companies set up by the trio in the Seychelles and Cayman Islands. Did.
According to the NCA, the actions of three men cost LAIP $8.5 million between 2009 and 2014.
The official investigation searched for evidence and witnesses over seven years in Libya, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Monaco and Guernsey.
At trial in Southwark Criminal Court, Marino and Omura were found guilty of conspiring to commit fraud through abuse of position, and Beso was found guilty of one count of fraud through abuse of trust before the trial began. admitted.
“This was a very complex investigation with challenges that spanned multiple jurisdictions,” claimed NCA branch commander Richard Harrison.
“These rulings send a clear message to anyone in the financial sector about the consequences of abusing their position. We are engaged in the fight against
However, London still has a reputation for being too lenient on allegations of widespread money laundering and financial fraud, particularly by Russian oligarchs. dollar) of Russian money.Most of them are held by offshore shell companies economist.
The newspaper argued that crackdown efforts in the UK were woefully under-resourced. However, sometimes the NCA wins.
Last December, a Russian businessman was arrested at his multi-million pound London home on charges including money laundering, conspiracy to commit Home Office fraud and conspiracy to commit perjury.
In January 2022, a Russian and a Lithuanian were sentenced to a combined 33 years in prison for money laundering of an estimated £70 million ($85 million).
