St Helier jeweller guilty of laundering drug gang's cash
18/12/2020
A MAN accused of laundering a crime gang's money through his Central Market jewellery business has been found guilty of all charges.
Darius Pearce faced three counts of becoming concerned in the acquisition, use, possession or control of criminal property.
The charges stemmed from a foiled plot to smuggle almost £1 million-worth of class A and B drugs into the Island in June which led to seven people being jailed for a combined total of 74 years for their role in the conspiracy.
Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, said it was the prosecution's case that Pearce played a pivotal role in the operation by paying the gang's dirty money into his bank account before using it to buy gold bullion over the phone from metals dealers in London.
He alleged that Pearce – and sometimes members of the gang – would then pick up the gold before converting it back into cash.
However, addressing the court, Pearce argued that he had no knowledge or suspicion regarding the gang's activities until after they had been arrested.
He added that he and his clients often arranged to pick up gold in the UK to avoid having to pay GST.
After being found guilty by the Jurats, Pearce was remanded into custody.
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As well as owning and publishing Comsure's copyrighted works, Comsure wishes to use the copyright-protected works of others. To do so, Comsure is applying for exemptions in the UK copyright law. There are certain very specific situations where Comsure is permitted to do so without seeking permission from the owner. These exemptions are in the copyright sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)[www.gov.UK/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws]. Many situations allow for Comsure to apply for exemptions. These include 1] Non-commercial research and private study, 2] Criticism, review and reporting of current events, 3] the copying of works in any medium as long as the use is to illustrate a point. 4] no posting is for commercial purposes [payment]. (for a full list of exemptions, please read here www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright]. Concerning the exceptions, Comsure will acknowledge the work of the source author by providing a link to the source material. Comsure claims no ownership of non-Comsure content. The non-Comsure articles posted on the Comsure website are deemed important, relevant, and newsworthy to a Comsure audience (e.g. regulated financial services and professional firms [DNFSBs]). Comsure does not wish to take any credit for the publication, and the publication can be read in full in its original form if you click the articles link that always accompanies the news item. Also, Comsure does not seek any payment for highlighting these important articles. If you want any article removed, Comsure will automatically do so on a reasonable request if you email info@comsuregroup.com.