Fugitive Jeweler Convicted of Money Laundering in U.K.

(Bloomberg) -- A fugitive luxury jeweler, who was initially dropped from the U.K.’s high-profile Tabernula insider-trading case because he was too ill, was convicted of laundering the proceeds of the scheme with the help of offshore companies and false invoices, the financial regulator said.

Richard Baldwin set up a company in Panama with a bank account in Zurich to launder 1.5 million pounds ($1.9 million) in profits from the insider-trading scheme, the Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday in a statement. He provided his bank with false invoices to explain why he received the funds and then dissipated most of the money through a series of offshore companies, it said.

Baldwin absconded and was tried in his absence, the FCA said. The crimes took place between 2007 and 2008 and the verdict was delivered in July 2017, but could only be reported now after a court restriction was lifted, the FCA said. A judge will sentence Baldwin, who is now the subject of a European Arrest Warrant, in September, the agency said.

In November 2015, Baldwin also admitted to breaching a restraint order, preventing him from dealing with any of his assets outside of England and Wales, the FCA said. Within two weeks of the June 2011 order, Baldwin had flown to Geneva twice, withdrawn the equivalent of 114,000 pounds and liquidated assets worth more than 82,500 pounds, the regulator said. Then he stashed assets in safety deposit boxes in Switzerland, it said.

"This case demonstrates our determination to pursue not only those who commit insider dealing but those who are prepared to launder the ill-gotten gains from abusing our market," the FCA’s Mark Steward said in the statement. "The case also sends a clear message that the FCA is determined to deprive criminals of the proceeds of crime."

In 2015, a London judge dropped Baldwin, who had been charged with three counts of insider dealing, from the Tabernula prosecution after his lawyers said he was too ill to endure a full trial. He didn’t enter a plea. Former Deutsche Bank AG broker Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind, an accountant, were jailed for insider trading in 2016. Baldwin ran a luxury watch business in London’s tony Marylebone area, the FCA said. It was not possible to contact a representative for Baldwin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in London at fwild@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Keith Campbell

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