These are just some of the high-flying criminals who thought they could get away with a life of crime. The fraudsters used the money and spent their ill-gotten gains on luxury cars and holidays.
Two business bosses created fake invoices from fake companies to avoid paying a whopping £1.3 million in tax. In another elaborate tax scam, a former couple conspired to submit fraudulent VAT refund claims to HMRC.
Meanwhile, another fraudster fled Britain amid a £500,000 license plate fraud trial. He spent more than five years on the run, bragging about his life of luxury, meeting celebrities and flying planes. You can read more about all three cases in our overview below.
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Textile company bosses avoided £1.3 million in tax
Bosses at a Midlands textile company set up fake subcontractors to avoid paying £1.3million in tax. The duo created fake invoices from fake companies so that they would not be liable for VAT.
Ehsan-Ul-Haque Dawood Patel and Hifzurrehman Patel then spent their ill-gotten gains on cars and property. The fraudsters set up Midlands Trading Ltd in 2014, with HMRC first becoming suspicious of the company’s activities the following year.
In 2015, an unannounced inspection took place at the factory in Benson Street, Spinney Hills, Leicester, during which a specialist taskforce discovered that workers’ clock-in cards had ‘completely disappeared’ during their visit, and that counterfeit invoices had also been handed over, reports LeicestershireLive . .
Hifzurrehman was convicted by jurors at Leicester Crown Court of conspiracy to evade VAT and two counts of money laundering and jailed for five years. Ehsan was jailed for 47 months after admitting the same three charges.
The £1.3million fraudster has lost a fortune on his Lego obsession
This fraudster spent £1.3 million of taxpayers’ money on his Lego obsession, fancy cars and luxury holidays. Lee Hickinbottom’s extensive tax fraud saw him conspire with ex-partner Tabatha Knott, 36, to submit fraudulent VAT refund claims to HMRC.
The ‘greedy career criminal’ splashed out £1,500 on Lego sets, went to the Empire State Building in New York and blew £250,000 on cars including a Jaguar F Pace, Jaguar XFs and a Land Rover Defender. Hickinbottom filed most of the claims for his fabricated company Serenity Community Transport and provided false invoices. He also admitted benefit fraud totaling £28,000.
Hickinbottom, from Dudley, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of multiple charges of cheating the public revenue (HMRC and DWP). Knott was found guilty of one charge of defrauding the public revenue and one charge of money laundering and given an 18-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.
The fugitive fraudster lived a life of luxury while on the run in Dubai
Birmingham fraudster Zahid Khan spent more than five years on the run after fleeing Britain in 2018 during his trial for £500,000 license plate fraud. He shamelessly taunted the police and the courts with regular Facebook posts showing off his luxurious life as a fugitive.
Zahid spent most of his years on the run in Dubai, where he continued to brag on Facebook about his life of luxury, meeting celebrities and flying planes. In 2021 he traveled to Turkey, where he was arrested and deported back to Britain in November 2023.
Four Turkish police officers accompanied him on a flight back to Manchester, where he was greeted on the plane by British police upon his arrival on December 22. Khan was hauled before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court the following day, charged with failing to surrender. Here’s the full story of his decade-long wild ride as a crook who cynically portrayed himself as a Ferrari-loving, celebrity-mingling, homeless-helping, millionaire pilot and successful businessman who was simply the target of “jealous haters.” .