The leader of a personal protective equipment (PPE) scam, Jogesh Bhandari, has been jailed for eight years. Mr Bhandari, 60, was sentenced on Friday after scamming companies out of millions of pounds during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Bhandari spent £126,000 on a Porsche and acquired an Audi A5, a Land Rover Discovery, and jewellery. He had pretended he could supply millions of boxes of nitrile gloves to companies in the US and Germany between late 2020 and early 2022.
Mr Bhandari and Craig Morris were convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and concealing and transferring criminal property at Leicester Crown Court in July. Mr Morris, who assisted with the fraudulent deals, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison on 7 October.
Mr Bhandari's wife, Meenakashi Bhandari, 58, was found guilty of concealing and transferring criminal property. She received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, 250 hours of unpaid work, and 15 days of rehabilitation activity on 7 October.
Sentencing Mr Bhandari at Northampton Crown Court, Judge William Harbage KC stated that Mr Bhandari was the "driving force" and "directing mind" of Banton, the company used for the fraudulent deals.