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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Ellen Kirwin

Mastermind behind £150m fraud empire moved fake designer clothes through Liverpool

Arif Patel Yogesh Patel HMRC Preston Revenue United Kingdom

The mastermind of an international fake designer clothing scam has been convicted of one of the UK’s largest ever carousel tax frauds.

Arif Patel tried to steal millions of pounds through false VAT repayment claims and imported false clothes from China and Turkey. Had the clothing been real, it would have had a value of at least £50 million.

The 55-year-old, of Preston, and his gang used shipping containers shipped to Liverpool, Southampton and Felixstowe filled with counterfeit Calvin Klein, Walt Disney, Nike, Prada, Emporio Armani, Lacoste and Levi Strauss. The proceeds from the clothing scam were used to buy property across Preston and London through offshore bank accounts.

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