www.thesouthafrican.com
16 - 22 July 2013
Issue 523
EXPAT JAILED FOR UK MONEY LAUNDERING
| A South African expat has been convicted and jailed in the UK for money laundering part of the proceeds of a £5.7 million international fraud scheme that conned 14,000 people by STAFF REPORTER
BRADLEY Rogers, 29, who had been working for an international fraudster in Spain, was extradited to the UK last year in order to stand trial alongside four other suspects. Last month the former Durbanite was convicted of money laundering but cleared of charges of conspiracy to defraud. On Friday Rogers, who holds dual British and South African citizenship, was sentenced at the Ipswich Crown Court to two years and 10 months in jail. During the trial, which lasted more than two months, the jury heard how 14,000 people were conned in escort agency and debt elimination scams. The jury heard how Rogers had chosen names for fake escort agencies such as Diamond Companions and Escortopi and booked advertisements in national newspapers in Britain. Prospective escorts paid £300 to sign up to be companions on nonsexual dinner dates but they got no business in return. Other victims, who owed money to credit card companies, were fleeced by paying upfront fees in the hope of eliminating their debts. The case was investigated by Suffolk Trading Standards, which had received complaints from people who did not receive the service they had paid for. It turned into the biggest case of its kind ever taken on by the local
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authority, with the inquiry lasting more than three years. Rogers’ former boss, Tony Muldoon, who was also extradited to the UK from Spain, pleaded guilty to two offences of conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for seven years and five months. The prosecution alleged that Rogers had acted as Muldoon’s “lieutenant”. Since 2010 Rogers had worked for Muldoon in Spain, helping to crew his luxury yacht, Caribbean Lady, on the Costa del Sol. The experienced sailor provided yacht charters along with his British girlfriend through his website www.wildbrad.com, on which he is described as ‘well educated, well-travelled and extremely driven’. Rogers reportedly surrendered control of his bank account to Muldoon and was said to have illegally processed £715 000 through the account between October 2007 and September 2010, knowing it was the proceeds of crime. Judge Rupert Overbury told the former Queensburgh Boys’ School pupil, “Without those who are prepared to launder the proceeds of fraud, the success of such criminal enterprises would be limited. You willingly laundered sums of money for no other reason than personal greed.” However, Rogers’ defence lawyer Matthew Dance contended that Rogers handed over control
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Bradley Rogers will spend 34 months in jail for his involvement in defrauding 14,000 people in escort agency and debt elimination scams.
of his account because of his lack of business experience and immaturity. Dance told the jury that Rogers had been unaware of the illegal activities of his boss and had only been acting on the instructions he
was given when he helped set up the escort agency business. “He did not know what was really going on. He was a victim of this affair. He became involved believing that he was doing nothing wrong,” Dance said.
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