Overview
- The fraud was uncovered after a Liverpool John Moores University student handed a USB stick to a lecturer on 24 February 2023 and university digital forensics found files linked to Study Sharp Ltd and its operator.
- Merseyside Police's cyber unit obtained a search warrant, seized devices and bank records, and found two laptops containing login credentials for about 124 students at roughly 10 universities.
- Prosecutors say payments from students and bank transfers showed a high‑value lifestyle, and forensic accounting fixed the 'agreed benefit' for sentencing at about £300,000 after earlier higher estimates.
- Adnan pleaded guilty to fraud and unauthorised‑access offences in September 2025, admitted money laundering in October 2025, and was sentenced to three years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
- Courts have set a timetable for the Crown to pursue recovery of criminal proceeds and the case highlights how university forensics and police cyber teams can detect and disrupt contract‑cheating that undermines academic standards.