Mark Graffius and Nikita McNeill defend in £46million wine fraud

Mark Graffius and Nikita McNeill represented the Financial Controller of the Italian Wine Company who was tried at The Central Criminal Court for the Fraudulent Evasion of Duty and VAT.

The Italian Wine Company was a Registered Excise Dealer and Shipper, trading in goods brought into the UK from the European Union under excise duty suspension.

Over a 5 year period from 2008 to 2013, the Italian Wine Company smuggled wine from Italy by manipulating the Excise Movement and Control System and by the multiple use of Administrative Reference Codes on importation documents.

HMRC estimated that the total VAT, Excise Duty and Corporation Tax evaded was over £46.5 million.

Mark and Nikita were instructed by Rebecca Cooke of Shearman Bowen.