SENTENCING OF CYBER FRAUD GANG

Four men were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court last week in a cyber fraud conspiracy case prosecuted by John Ojakovoh, as Leading Counsel. The two leaders, who were convicted by a jury after a five-week trial in December last year, received sentences of 5 years 4 months, and 5 years. Thegroup were responsible for hacking into accounting firms’ computers to make fraudulent claims to HMRC for the repayment of more than half a million pounds of taxpayers’ self-assessment income tax. Two co-defendants who had pleaded guilty to laundering the proceeds received suspended sentences.

John Ojakovoh was instructed as Leading Counsel for the prosecution by Sian Mitchell of the CPS Serious Economic Organised Crime and International Directorate (SEOCID)