THE Leicester Crown Court has sentenced a failed businessman for 18 months after he pleaded guilty to converting £55,000 of the criminal property last year.
Surjan Roopra, 29, is now facing proceeds of crime hearing, where the court could confiscate any properties he may be owning.
The Asian-origin man from Darien Way, Braunstone of Leicester, carried out the fraud by accessing the email account of a homebuyer’s conveyancing solicitor to send a bogus e-mail giving him the details of bank accounts to which payments were to be sent
The victim who was unaware of the authenticity of the e-mail received paid the sum into the bank account of Roopra.
He wasted the sum received, spending thousands of pounds at some luxury brands, including John Lewis, Apple, Next, and others.
Roopra had also sent some cash overseas.
According to the prosecutor: "Some payments from the defendant's account went to overseas accounts, some of those in India, and there was a transaction to Nigeria.”
"The Crown's view is that the defendant played a part in what appears to be an almost worldwide set up, in which the solicitors were targeted and emails hacked.
"It might be suggested the defendant was no more than a money mule, but bearing in mind how much was retained for his own purpose, it's clear he had much more involvement."
The stolen amount was found to have been paid into the defendant's Leicester furniture business account. He made a number of payments for debit and credit card expenditure from there.
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