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James Mulholland defends in "The Biggest Bank Heist in History"

James Mulholland acted as leading counsel for the main defendant in a serious fraud trial dubbed as "The Biggest Bank Heist in history."

HHJ Zeidman QC described their client, Lord R, as "the CEO" of a gang of computer hackers who attempted to steal a cool £229 million from one of London's major banks by corrupting the bank's SWIFT transfer system. The prosecution referred to him as one of Britain's "super criminals" who seemed, until his conviction, to operate above the law.

On a Sky News programme, which invited public feedback, members of the public commented:

"He sounds so intelligent that he ought to be running our banks......hire him don't jail him...The only crooked lord responsible for bank fraud is Mandelson."

Whatever your view of the man who has been dubbed "The Lord of Fraud", the attempt on the [SM] Banking Corporation to walk away with £229 million of the bank's money was audacious and worthy of a Hollywood film.

Having gained access to the bank by the use of an inside man, key logger software had been installed to gain access to various user names and passwords on the SWIFT system. The "ingenious" plot was only foiled when one of the hackers entered an error into one of the "relevant fields" on the SWIFT system. Had it not been for this "minor error" the gang would have walked away with £229 million, the world's largest ever bank fraud, thereby sending London's financial institutions into turmoil. News of the attempt sent shock waves through London's financial district and the day following the infiltration of the bank's computer system saw the City of London suspend all SWIFT transfers.

Lord R was alleged not only to have been chiefly involved in the planning of the fraud but to have controlled numerous bank accounts around the world which were intended to receive the money.

He was eventually convicted by a majority after a complex six week trial on 4th March 2009, the jury having been in retirement for six days. HHJ Zeidman QC sentenced Lord R on 5th March 2009 to a term of 8 years imprisonment.

For further information

• Bogus peer Lord R tried to pull off world's biggest bank raid - The Times
• Lord who plotted world's biggest heist jailed - Sky News
• 'Lord' jailed for £229m bank plot - BBC News
• Men guilty of £229m banking plot - BBC News 

6 March 2009

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