Businessmen who made more than £6million in a money laundering operation which saw them selling vans and lorries to war-torn Ukraine after purchasing them with criminal money have been jailed.
Valeriy Popovych, 52, and his wife Oksana, 42, both of Sunbury‐on‐Thames, and Vitaliy Lutsak, 43, of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, bought the vehicles in the UK before sending them to Ukraine and converting their profits into cryptocurrency.
The group exploited Ukraine’s legitimate demand for the vehicles and the lack of cryptocurrency regulation to maximise their profits which totalled to around £6.7million.
All three were found guilty following a five week trial at Wood Green Crown Court.
Valeriy Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak were both sentenced to six years and six months in prison on Monday. Oksana Popovych is due to be sentenced on May 30.
They were all found guilty of transferring criminal property and running an unregistered money service business, following an investigation by the Met’s economic crime team.
The criminal enterprise enabled Valeriy and Oksana Popovych to purchase a second house in South West London for just under £1 million.
Popovych used his export business, Sprint Commercial Ltd, to purchase vehicles in the UK from legitimate traders before selling them to Ukraine. His wife, Oksana , was also employed by the business.
Valeriy would purchase the goods with criminal cash before the money was deposited in Ukraine and converted to cryptocurrency.
Valeriy Popovych, 52, of Sunbury‐on‐Thames, bought cars and vans with criminal money before selling them to Ukraine
Vitaliy Lutsak, 43, of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, was also involved in the money laundering investigation
The group exploited Ukraine’s legitimate demand for the vehicles and the lack of cryptocurrency regulation to maximise their profits which totalled to around £6.7million (Pictured: cash seized by police)
Vitaliy acted as the money co-ordinator and would send the Popovychs to collect criminal cash from ‘customers’ in the UK.
During the investigation officers found more than $14million (£10,948,280) in cryptocurrency had passed through his ‘cyrptowallets’ stored on his computer.
Part of the laundered cash was controlled by a Russian National called Semen Kuksov, who was convicted on October 27, 2023, at Southwark Crown Court, under the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Operation Destabilise.
Kuksov was sentenced to five years and seven months imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court on February 1, 2024.
Bodycam footage shows the moment Valeriy Popovych was arrested by police who pulled over a vehicle he was riding passenger in on June 28, 2023, in Twickenham.
When searching the vehicle, police found over £60,000 in cash. In another search of is house in Feltham officers recovered £130,000 in cash which was seized, along with a laptop and mobile devices.
Evidence obtained by officers included chats, money transactions, CCTV, cryptocurrency wallets and call logs.
Messages outlined key times in which Valeriy and Popovych visited addresses to collect cash.
Crucially, they found an Excel spreadsheet, named ‘V Enf Acc’ which proved the group laundered over £6million between August 2022 and June 2023.
Bodycam footage shows the moment Valeriy Popovych was arrested by police who pulled over a vehicle he was riding passenger in on June 28, 2023, in Twickenham
Valeriy Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak were both sentenced to six years and six months in prison on Monday. Oksana Popovych is due to be sentenced on May 30 (Pictured: cash seized by police)
During the investigation officers found more than $14million (£10,948,280) in cryptocurrency had passed through his ‘cyrptowallets’ stored on his computer (Pictured: cash seized by police)
Following Popovych’s arrest, extensive investigations discovered the link with Oksana and Lutsak, who were arrested at their homes on May 15, 2024. Lutsak was charged on the same day.
Valeriy and Oksana Popvych were charged on June 14, 2024.
They were all found guilty by the jury on March 5 this year at Wood Green Crown Court.
Detective Constable Harry Davies, from the Metropolitan Police, who led the investigation, said: ‘This was a thorough and complex investigation into an organised crime gang operating internationally, I’d like to thank the dedicated officers and our partners for their work in bringing this group to justice.
‘Mr Popovych presented himself as a hardworking, legitimate tradesman and used his reputation within the second-hand lorry market to clean criminal cash. He also callously saw the conflict in Ukraine as a lucrative business opportunity.
‘The sentences given to the group today show how committed we are in tackling organised crime groups and the serious risk they pose to our communities.’
Negeen Momtahen, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Together, these defendants used an export business as a front to launder millions of pounds of criminal cash across borders. They attempted to conceal the source of this illicit money by using secret token exchanges and cryptocurrency.
‘Money laundering is not a victimless crime – it is the financial lifeline which enables criminals to profit from their illegal activities.
‘Last year we convicted other key members of this same money laundering network. I hope this latest prosecution demonstrates our ongoing determination to dismantling these criminal operations and bringing all involved to justice.
‘We will be pursuing confiscation proceedings against the defendants to remove any available criminal benefits gained from this enterprise.’
