Several individuals have been accused of a Bermuda government fraud estimated to more than a million pounds. According to a court hearing, a family has been involved in a fraud that ended up with them stealing £1.3 million from the government of Bermuda, which they used to purchase properties and luxury cars.
Jeffrey and Samantha Bevan are prosecuted for laundering a total amount of £1.7 million, which were stolen by the to spend on their lifestyle. Two other individuals, the 42-year-old Joel Ismail and the 52-year-old Paul Charity, both of whom are based in Leicester, also face allegations from being part of the Government fraud.
The trial against them has already started at the Cardiff Crown Court, with all of them denying the charges. The Bevans confirmed they have seen the amount of money appear in their joint account, but said they never suspected that the money has been the proceeds of any illegitimate criminal conduct.
The Cardiff Crown Court’s jury heard that Mr. Bevan faced prosecution for the amount of £1.3 million transferred to the joint family bank account in the UK. The rest of the money, which he spent while being in Bermuda, could not be included in the prosecution for alleged offences in Bermuda in a UK court. The two other men – Mr. Ismail and Mr. Charity – are alleged in trying to help the couple avoid the police investigation and preventing the course of justice.
The Couple Faces Serious Allegations
At the court’s hearing, it became clear that Mr. Bevan who works as an accountant started illegally transferring money gathered from local taxpayers to family accounts in Bermuda back in 2011. He started working as a payments manager in the office of Bermuda’s Accountant General, which brought him a salary of £80,000 on an annual basis. At the same time, his wife worked as a headmistress of the school on the island.
Jeffrey Bevan has faced accusations of making a total of 52 unauthorized payments to his own accounts and then of breaking the law by transferring the stolen amount of money back to a family bank account based in the UK. Spending less than three years on his job in Bermuda, he decided to resign and move back to Wales, blaming the poor health of his mother and his children schooling for the decision.
According to allegations, part of the money was used to pay off the mortgage on the couple’s house, which amounted to £140,000. The stolen amount was also used for investments in 11 properties situated in Nottingham, Glasgow, Newport and Swansea, as well as for the purchase of two luxury Mercedes Benz cars.
Tim Evans, prosecutor in the Cardiff Crown Court, revealed that Mr. Bevan has been dealing with a gambling addiction and was fascinated with taking the risk and gamble to try winning big sums. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power provided information that a total of 18,853 bets were made online by Mr. Bevan in the period from November 2008 to May 2014. According to the information revealed by the company, he deposited over £2 million into his account with the operator, he played with a certain amount of the money and then withdrew the remaining £1,539,400.
The court heard that an investigation was carried out in Bermuda, revealing a number of unauthorized payments. According to the prosecutor, Mr. Bevan had went back to Wales, because he was aware of the fact that he would face a fraud investigation. Not only Mr. Bevan denied all charges, but also claimed that the entire amount of £1.7 million was earned by him working overtime, with this money being legally and voluntarily provided by the Bermudan government.
