Money laundering through channel islands banks – revisiting a case from 2018

CI banks linked with multimillion dollar fraud case - 27 September 2018

A multimillion dollar fraud case which saw money laundered through bank accounts in Guernsey and Jersey has come to light after a brother and sister were sentenced following an investigation led by the City of London Fraud Police. Andrey Ryjenko, a former senior banker employed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was jailed for his crimes earlier this year, while his sister was given a suspended sentence for her part Tatjana Sanderson, 38, of Sussex Gardens, London was given a two year sentence, suspended for two years at the Old Bailey for "laundering the proceeds of a multi-million dollar bribery scheme."

The investigation by the City of London Police’s Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit (OACU) and the Philadelphia office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found she had "knowingly received $3.542 million on behalf of her brother, Andrey Ryjenko, into bank accounts that she operated in Jersey and Guernsey."

He was the operation leader for bank projects during his former employment, in which clients sought investment or loans. Several of those clients were represented by a US based consultancy firm that was run by Dmitrij Harder. It's believed that during September 2007 Harder informed Ryjenko that his company had been retained by a Russian based oil company to obtain financial backing for a project.

Ryjenko identified this as an opportunity to make money fraudulently as his employer’s potential clients would be directed to instruct Harder’s company - Ryjenko and Harder could then share the consultancy fee.

The investigation found that over the following two years and five months, Harder’s company received commission payments totalling $7.92 million. Harder gave $3.542 million of this to Ryjenko who arranged for it to be transferred to the offshore accounts of Sanderson.

The City of London Police said it's believed the money was transferred to Sanderson’s accounts to disguise Ryjenko’s involvement in the crimes, while the money received by Sanderson represented Ryjenko’s "reward for showing favour to Harder."

When the banks based in Guernsey and Jersey became suspicious and questioned Sanderson about the amount of money she was receiving, she claimed that the money was earned from a consultancy job with Harder’s company.

The matter was referred to OACU by EBRD’s Chief Compliance Officer in February 2010 and on 26 February 2010, OACU officers executed search warrants at two addresses.

During the searches, items were seized as evidence including computers and banking documents. Ryjenko was arrested on the same day and was sentenced to six years in prison on 19 June 2018.

Sanderson was arrested later than her brother, on 13 April 2011, and was then bailed to attend an interview with an investigation leading up to her conviction and sentencing this week.

Harder admitted his involvement following an investigation by the FBI's Philadelphia office and in July 2017 he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and ordered to forfeit $1.9 million.

The investigating officers in London were praised by the judge who presided over Sanderson's sentencing as the final part of a "complex investigation and co-ordinating extensive telephone evidence" was brought to a conclusion.

Detective Constable Roger Dainty of the City of London Police’s Economic Crime Directorate said, "the sentencing of Sanderson marks the successful conclusion of eight years’ work by officers from the Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit.

“Greed drove this team of fraudsters to take advantage of the companies they worked for. Our complex investigation and work with international law enforcement was able to put a stop to their crimes.”

https://gsy.bailiwickexpress.com/gsy/news/ci-banks-linked-multi-million-pound-fraud-case/?t=i#.X0YWaW5FyUk

Corrupt banker’s sister spared jail for her part in laundering bribes - Sep 25, 2018

A single mother who helped her corrupt banker brother launder more than £2 million in bribes has been spared jail to look after her children – after falling pregnant again.

Tatjana Sanderson, 39, who is expecting her fourth child, let Channel Island accounts in her name be used to bank the money for Anglo-Russian sibling Andrey Ryjenko,

Last June Ryjenko, 45, was jailed for six years after he was convicted of taking backhanders while working for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Sanderson last month pleaded guilty to concealing, converting or transferring criminal property between September 2007 and March 2010, following a long-running bribery case which led to convictions in Britain and the United States.

The Old Bailey heard the laundered money has been seized and remains in bank accounts, having not been touched by Sanderson, who lives in her parents’ multimillion pound flat near Hyde Park.

The court heard he accepted more than 3.5 million dollars (then worth just over £2 million) in return for approving loans for Dmitrij Harder, then principal owner of Chestnut Consulting Group, based in Southampton, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Their plot was formulated after financial consultant Harder revealed his company had been retained by a Russian-based oil firm to obtain project financing in September 2007.

Ryjenko seized the opportunity to abuse his position and make money corruptly by directing his employer’s potential clients to instruct Harder as a financial consultant in exchange for a share of the hefty fees.

Bogus business cards were produced for Sanderson to convince her bank the funds were legitimate payments for work carried out for Chestnut as the funds were funnelled into her accounts.

City of London Police were alerted in February 2010 by the chief compliance officer at the EBRD, after an anonymous tip-off sparked an internal investigation.

Ryjenko was jailed for six years after being convicted of conspiring to make or accept corrupt payments and transferring criminal property following a five-week trial at the Old Bailey.

Sanderson, who developed mental health issues, had been declared unfit to stand trial but the jury decided she was involved in the corruption as a matter of fact.

Meanwhile in the US, Harder, the former owner and president of Chestnut Consulting Group Inc., was jailed for five years for bribery.

Harder, 45, of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, had pleaded guilty in April 2016 to two counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In sentencing, US District Judge Paul Diamond ordered Harder to forfeit 1.9 million dollars (£1.4 million).

Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Elspeth Pringle said: “Tatjana Sanderson knew the millions of pounds she was storing in these bank accounts was taken through corrupt payments made to Ryjenko at his banking job.

“Sanderson took the money to distance her brother’s involvement in the corruption.

“The CPS showed in court the extent of the corrupt payments made to Ryjenko and how the money was then followed to Sanderson’s accounts to secure this guilty verdict.”

https://guernseypress.com/news/uk-news/2018/09/25/corrupt-bankers-sister-spared-jail-for-her-part-in-laundering-bribes/