A west London businessman who used his trade in vehicles to war-torn Ukraine as a “veneer of respectability” for a £6.7 million money laundering operation has been jailed.
Valeriy Popovych, 52, played a key role as “countless” bags of cash were collected from criminal gangs across London and the UK and converted into legitimate funds.
Wood Green crown court heard Popovych had helped the Ukraine war effort with the provision of military vehicles, ambulances, and machinery.
But detectives found his company, Feltham-based Sprint Commercials, had also been used as a front for the illicit money trade between August 2022 and June 2023.
Popovych, who was convicted of money laundering alongside his wife Oksana, 42, took a one per cent commission on each dirty money transaction, and used the profits to buy them a £1 million second home.
On Monday, Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak, 43, who collected the criminal cash were both sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.
.jpg)
Judge John Dodd KC, the Recorder of Haringey, said Popovych became accustomed to handling “huge” amounts of used bank notes, and his record keeping was “deliberately opaque”.
“You were content to work with those involved in serious and organised crime, laundering the proceeds of their activities”, he said.
He concluded both men had played a “leading role” in the money laundering operation.
“People like you who carry out this work facilitate organised criminality”, he said. “I’m quite sure that while the provenance of the money remains unclear, a lot of it was generated by serious and organised criminal activities.
“It just isn’t on for either of you to close your eyes to the reality of what you were doing, close your eyes to the source of countless bags of used notes you handled, and counted, and directed onwards.”
Oksana Popovych, 42, who was a secretary in her husband’s business, is due to be sentenced at the end of May.
Prosecutor Polly Dyer said the Metropolitan Police and the National Crime Agency had busted “a large-scale money laundering operation”, and mounted a criminal case based on a spreadsheet from Popovych’s computer which detailed almost £6.7 million in illicit transactions.
Detectives unravelled the crime ring, finding Lutsak had arranged cash collections in the UK. Popovych then used the money to buy vehicles which were then shipped to his legitimate Ukrainian clients.
The Met said money from the scheme was then converted to cryptocurrency, exploiting the unregulated market. Evidence was discovered that $14 million had passed through Lutsak’s crypto wallet.
“Mr Popovych bought and sold vehicles through his company, Sprint Commercials Ltd”, said Ms Dyer.
“The company provided a veneer or respectability and a means for it (money laundering) to work.”
One cash collection for the purposes of money laundering had been made in Miami, the court heard.
Popovych and Lutsak also came into contact with Semen Kuksov the son of a Russian oil executive, who was jailed last year for running his own multi-million pound money laundering operation.
Popovych had set up his company, trading used vehicles, in 2007, and he produced a stack of character references describing him as “decent, honest, and hard-working”.
Warwick Aleeson, mitigating, said Popovych had run an “entirely legitimate business” for years.
“His error was allowing legitimate customers’ money to be converted into criminal cash in the UK”, he said.
The court heard Popovych had aided the war effort in the Ukraine, by providing military vehicles, ambulances, generators and grain digging infrastructure.
When Lutsak was arrested, police found two pianos among his possessions.
The court heard he has been teaching piano to fellow inmates at HMP Pentonville during his time in jail.
Lutsak, of Shortmead Drive, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to running an unregulated money service business and he was convicted by a jury of money laundering.
Popovych, of The Avenue, Sudbury‐on‐Thames, was convicted of both charges after a trial.
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.”
