Four people from a Bulgarian crime group in the UK have been sentenced to three to eight years in prison by a court in the London borough of Wood Green, BBC reported.
The gang defrauded British taxpayers of more than 54 million pounds. Gunesh Ali, Patrizia Paneva, Stoyan Stoyanov, Tsveta Todorova and Galina Nikolova managed to steal £53,901,959.82 from the Universal Credit payment system. Authorities described the scheme as "unprecedented".
The heaviest sentences were given to Gunesh Ali and Galina Nikolova. Nikolova received eight years in prison and will be eligible to apply for early release after serving four of them. Ali received 7 years and 3 months, but will have to serve the full term because he managed to escape to Bulgaria, from where he was extradited back.
Stoyan Stoyanov will be behind bars for 4 years and will be able to apply for early release after 2 years. Patricia Paneva has the lowest sentence. She received 3 years and 2 months in prison. Tsvetka Todorova was sentenced to 3 years in prison, but her stay in custody was more than 18 months, so the court decided to release her.
The time limit for appealing the sentences is 28 days.
The money stolen by the criminal group was used to acquire luxury cars, branded clothes and expensive watches.
The five criminals made more than 6,000 false applications for public money using a sophisticated scheme in north London, the Express reported.
Over four-and-a-half years, the gang ran the cunning scheme through three shops in Wood Green. They also had a number of fake identities which they used to make false benefit claims.
Each benefit claim was given a different mobile number and was accompanied by a host of dubious documents including tenancy agreements, fake payslips and fake letters from GPs, landlords and employees. If a claim was rejected, they simply resubmitted it until it was accepted. In some cases claims were submitted using the details of real people. These individuals took money from the gang so that their identity could be used. Over a hundred bank accounts were used in the scheme.
Some of the stolen money is believed to have been invested in Bulgarian property.
The biggest ever benefit fraud investigation in the UK began when officers noticed a distinctive pattern in the names and addresses of claimants.
After searching properties on 5 May 2021, authorities seized more than 900 devices and discovered £750,000 in cash hidden in a suitcase under a bed. Following the arrests, the assets of those involved were frozen. Police seized cars, including an Audi, high-end clothing, jewellery and watches. Officers also found wads of bills at their homes.
Ali was released as part of the investigation in which he escaped and fled to Bulgaria. However, on 25 February 2023 he was extradited back to the UK to stand trial.
One of the locations used in the mass fraud was a Bulgarian grocery store called Antonia Food in Wood Green, North London. /BGNES
