Michael Bisgrove and Lyndon Harris appeared for the Crown in the prosecution of Jogesh “Johnny” Bhandari, Craig Morris and Meenakshi Bhandari. Jogesh Bhandari and Craig Morris were responsible for perpetrating a large multi-national fraud during the Covid-19 pandemic concerning the purchase and supply of PPE, specifically nitrile gloves, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to a USA based company and a German based company.
Jogesh Bhandari’s company – Banton – had offices in the UK, USA and Dubai. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jogesh Bhandari sought to get into the PPE business. He arranged deals to purchase and supply nitrile gloves and worked with Frank Labruzzo, a US Assistant Attorney General at the Louisiana State Justice Department. Labruzzo provided a fraudulent escrow service, which say funds that should have remained in the escrow account until the completion of the proposed PPE deals in fact transferred to Bhandari.
Bhandari then paid off his own debts, bought a Porsche 911, completed home renovations and took his family on holiday. He worked with Craig Morris who assisted him in making misrepresentations to those Banton was trying to do business with. The promised deals were for millions and millions of boxes of gloves. One such deal was valued at over $1bn.
Meenakshi Bhandari, Jogesh’s wife, used the money to pay off her debts. Purchases of jewellery were also made.
Jogesh Bhandari and Craig Morris were convicted of fraud. Meenakshi Bhandari was convicted of money laundering in relation to the proceeds. They will be sentenced on 21 August 2026 at Leicester Crown Court.
Further details can be found here Fraudsters bought luxury car and home improvements from PPE scam – National Crime Agency (NCA) and here Covid PPE fraudsters spent money on cars and watches – BBC News (BBC)
