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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rupert Neate Wealth correspondent

‘London laundromat’: how golden visa scheme created UK haven for dirty money

Izzat Khanim Javadova performing as DJ
Izzat Khanim Javadova, who performs as DJ Mikaela Jav, entered the UK on the golden visa scheme. Last year she was forced to hand £4m to the National Crime Agency Photograph: Handout

A multimillionaire DJ and her husband were last year forced to hand £4m to the National Crime Agency (NCA) after admitting in a settlement that they had brought the money into the UK illegally through a $2.9bn (£2.1bn) money-laundering scheme nicknamed the “Azerbaijani laundromat”.

Izzat Khanim Javadova, who performs in London and Ibiza as DJ Mikaela Jav, and her husband, Suleyman Javadov, entered the UK years earlier after investing at least £2m under the “golden visa” scheme that has attracted thousands of wealthy people from Russia and former Soviet states to settle in Britain. Most moved to London, nicknamed “Londongrad” in some circles.

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