Three people who met up to hand over a carrier bag full of cash on a Tameside street corner have been jailed for a total of five years for money laundering.
In December 2019, Hua Chen, 40, was seen handing over £150,000 to a man on the corner of Hillgate Street and Holden Street, close to his home in Ashton, where a further £220,000 was discovered lying on his bedroom floor.
Hua Chen met up with Wythenshawe couple Jie Chen, 39, and Mei Jin Huang, 34, and passed a bulging carrier bag containing £150,000 in banknotes to Jie Chen.
He returned to his home while the couple jumped into a taxi destined for Oxford Road in the city centre. It was stopped and searched by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers, who found the carrier bag at Jie Chen’s feet.
Hua Chen passed a bulging carrier bag containing £150,000 in banknotes to Jie Chen
Officers seized keys for an apartment in Whitworth Street West from Mei Jin Huang and discovered a cash counting machine under the bed, elastic bands, bank cash wraps and a small number of torn banknotes.
In total, £370,000 cash was seized and the three were arrested on suspicion of money laundering.
£220,000 in cash and phones which were found in the bedroom of Hua Chen
Sandra Smith, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Money laundering is not a victimless crime. Laundered cash funds other serious crimes that bring harm and misery to communities. HMRC will investigate anyone suspected of being involved in money laundering and after conviction we’ll pursue the money they owe. We encourage anyone with information about tax fraud or money laundering to report it online by searching ‘Report Fraud HMRC’ on GOV.UK and report it using the online form.”
On 20 May 2022, following a five-day trial at Manchester Crown Court, Hua Chen was found guilty of money laundering.
On Friday (26 August), at the same court, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Jie Chen and Mei Jin Huang pleaded guilty to money laundering in October 2021 and now Jie Chen has been jailed for two years and Mei Jin Huang was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for one year, and given a three-month electronic curfew.
The cash will be forfeited.
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