Socialite James Stunt has been found not guilty in a £266mn money-laundering prosecution, one of the UK’s largest-ever cases for the offence.
The former son-in-law of Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone was cleared of one count of money laundering on a majority verdict by a jury at Cloth Hall crown court in Leeds on Tuesday, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
Jurors were told at the trial that Stunt, 43, had started a joint venture with Fowler Oldfield, a Bradford-based precious metals and jewellery dealer, which prosecutors claimed was a financial “gateway” for criminals between 2014 and 2016. This was Stunt’s second prosecution for money laundering after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the charge in 2022.
The case centred on large amounts of unexplained cash passing through businesses and credited to Fowler Oldfield’s account after being collected from premises including Stunt’s offices. The cash was delivered by couriers in sports bags, carrier bags and holdalls “full of hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time”, the CPS said.
Four other defendants — Gregory Frankel, 47, Daniel Rawson, 47, Haroon Rashid, 54, and Arjun Babber, 33, — were found guilty of money laundering by the jury. Frankel and Rawson were both directors of Fowler Oldfield.
“After an ordeal that has lasted nine years, Mr Stunt is overwhelmingly relieved that he has been completely exonerated of the offences for which he has stood trial twice and always vehemently denied,” his lawyer, Fiona Gavriel, said in a statement.
The case has taken “an immeasurable toll both on his business and his personal life”, Gavriel added.
NatWest was also prosecuted by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and fined £265mn in 2021 for money laundering failures in relation to the case.
“This case is one of the largest money laundering prosecutions ever brought to the courts in England and Wales,” said Hannah Von Dadelszen, a division director in the CPS’s serious economic crime group.
She added: “It involved a colossal quantity of cash, undoubtedly derived from criminal activity.”
