Fraud mastermind sock firm boss to pay back £90m

Arif Patel, who masterminded a massive VAT carousel fraud, remains on the run

The boss of a sock-making company has been ordered to pay back more than £90m after masterminding a huge tax fraud.

Ferrari-driving Arif Patel, from Preston, worked with other criminals to make false VAT rebate claims on fake exports of textiles and mobile phones.

They also imported and sold counterfeit clothes and invested their criminal earnings into a vast international property portfolio.

A judge at Chester Crown Court ruled £90m of assets belonging to Patel, 57, who is still on the run from justice, should be sold so the money can go into paying for public services.

Patel had been the boss of Fulwood-based Preston textiles firm Faisaltex Ltd.

But he and his accomplices ran a "carousel fraud" scam that involved creating fake business transactions on goods moved between various companies, with the false import and export records used to claim back large sums of VAT.

The Patel gang's operation was one of the biggest ever carousel frauds, His Majesty's Revenue And Customs (HMRC) said.

The proceeds of the gang's crimes paid for properties in Preston, London, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The fake clothes they were selling would have been worth up to about £50m if they had been the genuine brands.

The fake clothes the gang was selling would have been worth up to £50m if it had been genuine

In 2005, police in Dumfries and Galloway stopped a van being driven by one of Patel's gang. It was found to be full of counterfeits of Calvin Klein, Walt Disney, Nike, Prada and other brands.

Patel went to Dubai in 2011 but never returned.

He and his co-accused Mohamed Jaffar Ali, 61, of Dubai, were found guilty in their absence of fraud and money laundering offences following a 14-week trial in 2023.

Ali was ordered to pay back more than £677,000, and the the pair received a total of 31 years in prison between them.

As well as the property to be sold, the judge ordered Patel's Ferrari 575 Superamerica should also be auctioned.

A judge ordered Patel's Ferrari Superamerica should also be auctioned off

Twenty-four other members of their gang received prison sentences totalling 116 years following the joint investigation by HMRC and Lancashire Police.

Richard Las, Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: "Arif Patel lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the law-abiding majority, but he will now lose the property empire he amassed from the proceeds of crime."

Mark Winstanley, Assistant Chief Constable, Lancashire Constabulary, added: "Arif Patel was the head of a Preston-based Organised Crime Group responsible for causing millions of pounds worth of losses to multiple companies."