CONFISCATION PAPERS A DRAW UP…CHECK IT

Title: Money Laundering Heads Ordered To Pay Nearly $150m In UK Court

Message Body:
Big confiscation order against money launderers

Two Jamaicans, who headed a major money laundering network, have been ordered to pay back nearly one million pounds or approximately J$150 million of their criminally acquired assets. The money is to be shared by the Jamaican and United Kingdom governments.

Fifty year-old Burnett Morris and his wife, Paulette, were ordered to forfeit the sum following a April 23 Proceeds of Crime legislation confiscation hearing at the Crown Court in London.

Mr. Morris will be forced to pay back more than £700,000 with nearly £200,000 being payable within the next six months. Mrs. Morris was ordered to pay back approximately £190,000, of which with £173,000 will be payable within the next six months.

Mr. Morris was linked to a money laundering network of seven people that led a lavish lifestyle from the proceeds of their criminal activities in the UK and Jamaica.

Justin Felice, Head of the Financial Investigations Division, told RJR News the confiscation was part of his agency’s bid to take the profit out of crime. It will he said, ”result in, hopefully, substantial amounts of money coming back to Jamaica.”

At their trial in May 2011, the court heard how Mr Morris’, along with other members of the network, used associates and family members to send small amounts of money, often £900 a time. Over a six-year period, the network transferred more than £500,000 pounds .

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/big-confiscation-order-against-money-launderers

Benefit cheats laundered £600,000… and had deposit box at Harrods jailed for 12 years

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391674/Benefit-cheats-laundered-600-000–deposit-box-Harrods.html#ixzz2RzL8zZmA
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In Jamaica they lavished millions on mansions, racehorses, gems and sports cars.
But in Britain, Burnett and Paulette Morris still saw fit to milk the benefits system for all its worth.
The fraudsters claimed more than £60,000 in handouts while sending £900 a day from their drugs empire to Jamaica to pay for two million-pound homes and a 16-horse stable.
The couple lived with their three children in a cramped housing association semi in Bromley, Kent, claiming £20,553 in housing allowance, council tax benefit, £42,000 in income support and even free school meals for their two youngest.
At the same time, Paulette Morris, 49, spent thousands of pounds a week at Harrods and Harvey Nichols on designer clothes, diamonds and handbags.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391674/Benefit-cheats-laundered-600-000–deposit-box-Harrods.html

See also (Jamaica Houses and co-accused):

UK-Jamaica Money Ring Smashed

A Jamaican couple who rolled in millions of pounds sterling while still accepting welfare benefits were yesterday convicted of money laundering in a London court.

Burnett Morris, 48, and his wife, 49-year-old Paulette – who British police say led a large-scale money laundering ring which operated between Jamaica and the UK – were found guilty of conspiracy to launder money.

The court was told that the network used associates and family members to send money to Jamaica, often £900 (J$123,000) at a time.

The cash was reportedly sent almost daily, sometimes up to five times a day.

Over a six-year period, the network reportedly transferred more than £500,000 (J$68 million) to Jamaica.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110420/lead/lead1.html

SEE ALSO 2011 STORY

Three convicted in connection with large-scale money laundering network

20 April 2011

Three people were found guilty at Kingston Crown Court yesterday (19 April) for their part in a large-scale money laundering network which operated between Britain and Jamaica.

Yesterday’s convictions follow an extensive investigation by financial detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Trident, working closely with colleagues from Jamaica.

“We are determined to put criminals out of business by seizing their assets in the UK and abroad and prosecuting them for money laundering.”

Burnett Morris, 48, his wife Paulette Morris, 49, were yesterday found guilty of conspiracy to launder money; co-defendant Kevin Robinson, 40, was found guilty of transferring criminal property out of the jurisdiction of the UK.

Four others – Gerard Dean Wright, 28, Fiona Holness, 32, Roisin Keville, 34, Dwayne Samuel, 21 – had pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property out of the jurisdiction of the UK at an earlier hearing.

(Holness and Samuel are siblings).

Sentencing is scheduled to take place at Kingston Crown Court on 27 May.

Burnett and Paulette Morris were remanded in custody; the others were bailed until sentencing.

Trident’s Financial Investigation Unit began investigating after identifying a criminal network based in south London that was sending regular sums of cash to associates in Jamaica through various money bureaux. The prosecution maintained that the cash was the proceeds of Burnett Morris’ drug dealing on the streets of south London.

Key suspects were identified in the UK and Jamaica, and the MPS worked with officers from the Financial Investigations Division in Kingston, which is part of Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance and Planning, to gather evidence against them.

The network – headed by Burnett Morris and his wife Paulette – used associates and family members to send small amounts of money, often £900 a time. Cash was sent almost daily, sometimes up to five times a day. Over a six-year period, the network transferred more than £500,000. In addition Paulette spent more than £250,000 on travel to and from Jamaica and Florida and on luxury items including designer clothes, a diamond valued at £8,000 and other jewellery. She rented a safety deposit at Harrods.

Whilst living a millionaire’s lifestyle, Paulette and Burnett Morris claimed benefits, including housing allowance, Council Tax benefit and free school meals for two of their children.

Enquiries in Jamaica have shown that the family own two luxurious houses on the outskirts of Kingston. One of these homes was in the process of being built and Paulette had been ordering expensive material from Miami, Florida, to be imported to Kingston. This included a large quantity of marble and a £16,000 Bang and Olufsen sound system. When officers visited Jamaica as part of their inquiries there was evidence of a pool being dug out within the grounds of one of the houses, named Golden Acres (the grey house in the photographs).

The Morris’ also own at least 14 racehorses, which regularly race at Caymanas Park, Jamaica.

The defendants were arrested on 14 May 2009 at addresses in south-east London and Cambridge during an operation that involved more than 100 officers from Trident, Lewisham borough, the Met’s Territorial Support Group and Met dog units.

When officers searched Burnett & Paulette’s homes in neighbouring Reigate Road and Ballamore Road, Bromley, they found lock-knives, knuckle dusters, machetes and other weapons. More than £4,000 in cash was also seized.

Yesterday’s convictions demonstrate how the Proceeds of Crime Act is being used to ensure that crime does not pay by targeting criminals financially. Officers will be seeking to confiscate the networks assets in the UK and in Jamaica working with colleagues there under the Asset Sharing Agreement in place between the two countries. The UK Government has an asset sharing agreement with the Jamaican Government, which will be invoked in order to repatriate assets currently in Jamaica.

Detective Inspector Gill Barratt, from Trident’s Financial Investigation (Payback) Unit, said: “We are determined to put criminals out of business by seizing their assets in the UK and abroad and prosecuting them for money laundering.

“We will continue to effectively work with colleagues in Jamaica to ensure they cannot profit from crime in the UK by sending money home to Jamaica.

“Our intention is to take out the criminal role models in both countries by taking away their homes, cars and other ill-gotten possessions. In cases like this money seized from criminals will go back into tackling crime on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Since its inception in April 2007 the Trident Financial Investigation (Payback) unit has obtained court orders to repay nearly £7m from nearly 400 criminals operating on the streets of London. The unit is also part of the Serious and Organised Crime Command which this year alone has hit over 150 criminals for court orders totalling over £14m.

Full details of the defendants:

Burnett Roy Morris, 48, of Reigate Road, Bromley

Paulette Donna Marie Morris, 49, of Ballamore Road, Bromley (correct – they are married but lived at separate addresses near one another)

Kevin Kent Robinson, 40, of Hobart Road, Cambridge

Gerard Dean Wright, 28, of Farmstead Road, SE6

Fiona Holness, 32, of Reigate Road, Bromley

Roisin Keville, 34, of Pendragon Road, Bromley

Dwayne Lloyd Samuel, 21, of Carlton Grove, Peckham, SE15

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