Convicted counterfeit clothing boss ordered to pay back £90 million

Clothing manufacturer Patel, of Preston, and his criminal gang stole £33.4 million from the UK Government through fake VAT repayment claims on false exports of textiles and mobile phones. They also imported and sold counterfeit clothes valued at over £19.19 million having set up a sophisticated chain of sham companies to cover their tracks.

The proceeds were then used to buy property across Preston and London using offshore bank accounts.

Following a joint investigation conducted by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Lancashire Police, and prosecution by the CPS, Arif Patel was convicted of false accounting, conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and money laundering.

Confiscation Orders

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “The CPS has worked robustly with HMRC and Lancashire Police to ensure that Arif Patel could not keep the benefits from his fake counterfeit designer clothes scam and fraudulent VAT claims. In total, Patel must pay back more than £90 million or face more prison time being added to his original sentence.”

Foster added: “In the last five years, £478 million has been recovered from CPS-obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. Over £95 million of that amount has been returned to the victims of crime by way of compensation.” 

Richard Las, director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, added: “Arif Patel lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the law-abiding majority, but he will now lose the property empire he amassed from the proceeds of crime. Our work never stops at conviction. For the last two years, we’ve worked with the police and CPS partner organisations to secure one of the biggest criminal confiscations we’ve ever recovered.”

Las concluded: “Tens of millions of pounds of stolen money will now go back to directly fund public services.”

Motivated by greed    

Mark Winstanley, Assistant Chief Constable at Lancashire Police, commented: “Arif Patel was the head of a Preston-based organised crime group responsible for causing millions of pounds’ worth of losses to multiple companies. Motivated by greed, his actions directly impacted the taxpayer. A multi-agency operation involving ourselves and HMRC has worked tirelessly to bring confiscation proceedings to this point.”  

Winstanley continued: “The Confiscation Order granted for £90,503,211 will ensure funds are returned to the public purse, thereby recovering Patel’s criminal gains. Lancashire Police is committed to ensuring that crime doesn’t pay and will pursue every avenue to recover monies and assets from those who seek to exploit others for their own gain.”