Overview
- Leicester Crown Court jurors found Jogesh Bhandari, Meenakashi Bhandari and Craig Morris guilty following a five‑week trial that concluded on Wednesday, July 15.
- Prosecutors showed the trio falsely claimed they could supply millions of nitrile glove boxes during 2020–21 and took large upfront payments without delivering the products.
- The fraud relied on forged bank statements and a fraudulent US escrow arrangement run with a US official, who has already been convicted in the United States.
- Investigators used bank records and more than 47,000 WhatsApp messages and emails to trace how payments were diverted and spent on a Porsche, luxury watches, jewellery, holidays and home renovations.
- The defendants will be sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on August 21 and the NCA says the case highlights how pandemic procurement vulnerabilities were exploited and diverted critical PPE away from legitimate users.