IEVA GIEDRAITYTE

Operation Dalmas, Kingston Crown Court

An international conspiracy to evade customs and excise duty and to commit money laundering, prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Division with input from the Border Police. It was alleged that our client, a company director, was a ringleader of a number of companies across the UK, Europe and South Asia who facilitated the large-scale evasion of duty. The estimated loss to the revenue was £12m-£40m. Our client was the only defendant acquitted after a re-trial.

Operation Yuletide, Southwark Crown Court

Represented a defendant in a €100 million fraud concerning a large multinational company where funds were laundered through Malta, Spain, Lichtenstein, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Cyprus and Sri Lanka. The defendant was alleged of diverting €100 million using a UK solicitor’s account and various fraudulent documents

Operation Fireball, Central Criminal Court

This was an investigation by the London Regional Fraud Team (“LRFT”) (arm of the Regional Organised Crime Unit (“ROCU”)) and NCA into an Organised Crime Group of fraudsters carrying out Cyber Fraud. The Cyber Threat had been assigned a “Tier One” threat status in the National Security Strategy, one of the highest priorities for action.

Lloyds PR Solicitors represented the lead defendant and one other defendant in this five co-defendant case, charged with Conspiracy to Convert Criminal Property and Conspiracy to commit Fraud by False Representation. The group was accused of using auction sites such as Ebay and Gumtree, and exploiting weaknesses through the internet using bogus EBAY advertisements and fake PayPal payment procedure in order to facilitate payment into mule bank accounts opened by the group members using false identification and stolen mail. The money was then laundering through other business. The approximate losses totalled to £2 million.

Operation Academy, Blackfriars Crown Court

This was an investigation into a multi-million pound credit card ATM fraud allegedly being run by a large criminal network. This group was said to be involved in the manufacture and distribution of skimming devices for use on TFL ticket vending machines and other cash vending machines, the cloning of credit cards and their sale. The loss to the victims was alleged to run in the region of several million pounds.

Operation Studley, Inner London Crown Court

We represented a lead defendant charged with conspiracy to commit fraud. He was alleged to be part of an Organised Crime Group who targeted ATM's by uploading malware onto the machines, which enabled the machines to dispense all of the funds. There was a loss in excess of £1.3 million from over 51 ATM's which were targeted over the May 2014 Bank holiday. A significant number of machines were attacked within London with smaller clusters targeted elsewhere in the UK. Prior to this series of attacks, this version of attack and malware had not been seen in the United Kingdom

Operation Salvage, Reading Crown Court

This case concerned defendants charged with a large conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation by way of insurance fraud. They were also charged with conspiracy to arrange for vehicles to be driven dangerously and possession of articles for use in fraud. The total fraud value was said to be £7.25 million and the defendant we represented was acquitted

R v SA, Luton Crown Court

We represented a senior accountant who worked for a large multi-national charity for over 10 years. He was charged with eight counts of Fraud and false accounting in respect of the charity, and was said to have committed the above crimes over 10 years whilst in charge of the charity’s accounts. The total value of the fraud alleged was over £3 million

Operation Wasp, Central Criminal Court

We represented a lead female defendant in an eight defendant case; she was alleged to have conspired with others to assist in unlawful immigration by arranging sham marriages and was also alleged to have married her husband for the same reason.

R v MZ, Swansea Crown Court

The defendant was accused of facilitating breach of UK immigration law by assisting a friend, who had previously been deported and therefore not allowed into the country, to enter back into the UK. The defendant was acquitted

R v H, Central Criminal Court

Client and four others accused of two attempted murders, wounding with intent and possession of firearms with intent.

R v H, Central Criminal Court

Client along with five others accused of murder in a gang related incident.

R v V, Cambridge Crown Court

Client accused of kidnaping his ex-wife and hiding the body after carrying out her murder.

R v RD, Snaresbrook Crown Court

This was a large investigation by the Specialist Crime and Operations Unit attached to New Scotland Yard. Over ten defendants were accused of conspiring to purchase and sell illegal firearms and ammunition from Eastern Europe. The case span months of careful undercover surveillance by video footage and phones, and the case span extensive cell site evidence against most defendants, as well as messages between all parties. Almost 30,000 pages of evidence was served and the defence team had to carefully analyse the evidence, instructing cell site experts and Lithuanian language experts to dispute interpretations.

Operation Kedah, Southwark Crown Court

Ieva was the lead solicitor where Lloyds PR represented the lead defendant in a large multi-national case charged with Conspiracy to hold a person in slavery, Conspiracy to traffic for exploitation, Conspiracy to control prostitution and Removal of criminal property.

Operation Rakuyou, Southwark Crown Court

Represented two lead defendants in a nine hander case where they were alleged to be a part of an organized criminal network involved in the trafficking of females, mostly Romanian, into the United Kingdom for the purpose of sexually exploiting them. The group had been linked to numerous brothels, operating over four years, located primarily in West London. The defence managed to uncover withheld evidence that eventually led to most of the accusations being discontinued at trial.

In Operation Gwendreath, Southwark Crown Court Ieva lead the team in representing the two top leading defendants in an organized Lithuanian crime group accused of Conspiracy to steal and Conspiracy to convert criminal property worth £12,000,000, namely high value vehicles. There were over 50,000 pages were served in evidence including phone evidence, cell site, computer evidence.

Operation Parraamatta, St Albans Crown Court

This case concerned an allegation that the Defendant conspired with others to commit a theft where vulnerable victims were convinced over the phone to hand over money to an organised criminal group. The Crown’s case was that there were 90 or more incidents where this theft/fraud was said to have taken place and over £200,000 was taken.

Operation Cadium, Reading Crown Court

This case involved six co-defendants charged with conspiracy to steal business vehicles in the areas of Slough and Iver; there were a total of 141 individual offences spanning over a period of 6 months.

R v SM, Kingston Crown Court

Defendant was accused of robbing a local bookers using an imitation firearm.

R v LK, Guildford Crown Court

The defendant was accused of being the leader of a gang that targeted over 30 properties in order to burgle them and escape using motorcycles.

R v EW, St Albans Crown Court

The defendant we represented was accused of being a lead defendant in arranging employees of a designer clothes shop to burgle the property multiple times during the night, allegedly stealing thousands of pounds worth of merchandise. The prosecution’s case was largely based on cell site evidence, which the defence managed to discredit using a cell site expert and the defendant was acquitted.

R v C, Oxford Crown Court

Conspiracy to commit 10 dwelling burglaries.

R v D, Central Criminal Courts

Client accused of aggravated burglary and perverting the course of justice in a gang related incident.

Operation Rockwell, Preston Crown Court

A large 33 co-defendant prosecution at Preston Crown Court. We represented one of the lead defendants. The prosecution alleged that this was a well organised conspiracy where rental properties were identified for the cannabis farms and exploited, as well as various units used, and money laundered through various business. The alleged value of this conspiracy is between £2 – 3 million.

Operation Opaque & Rome, Central Criminal Court

A £150 million UK wide conspiracy to supply cannabis investigated by SOCA and Dutch authorities and prosecuted by the CPS. This was a Very High Cost Case which indicates that it was a vast and complex prosecution.

Operation Bewcastle, Lewes Crown Court

Lloyds PR represent a defendant in a twelve hander conspiracy to convey prohibited items, including drugs and telephones, into HMP Lewes. Some of the defendants were prison officers. The Sussex Police investigation uncovered a conspiracy that ranged over a two year period whereby drugs, mobiles and money were exchanged between prisoners, prison staff and their families. We represented a defendant who was acquitted of all charges.

R v IR, Norwich Crown Court

This was a county lines case whereby an organized group from London were alleged to be supplying class A drugs in Norfolk. The case involved extensive surveillance and telephone evidence.

R v MN, St Albans Crown Court

The defendant was accused of raping a woman he met online. He was acquitted after the defence carefully analysed and used telephone evidence in his defence.

R v PB, Canterbury Crown Court

The defendant was accused of raping a vulnerable woman at a party and was linked to the alleged crime months later by his DNA. He was acquitted of the charge.

R v TH, Isleworth Crown Court

The defendant was a wealthy foreign national who was accused of raping a woman he had met at a high end restaurant and taken her back to his hotel. The defence instructed a number of various experts, including a private investigator, as it was believed that the woman may have had blackmail in mind. After the defence lawyers spent months pursuing the Crown for various pieces of evidence, the case was discontinued.

R v AC, Harrow Crown Court

The defendant was accused of a “stranger rape” whereby the complainant stated he had met her out in town, gave her alcohol and then raped her, leaving her in someone’s garden. He was identified months later through his DNA. The defendant was successfully acquitted.

R v AC, Luton Crown Court

The defendant was accused of spending months stalking a woman that worked at a shopping centre in Bedford, and one day raping another vulnerable woman; this was called a “stranger rape” since the two did not know each other

R v GA, Southwark Crown Court

The defendant, who was an assistant / researcher to one of the ministers at the House of Lords, was charged with making and distributing just over a thousand of indecent images of children.

R v SC, Isleworth Crown Court

The defendant was accused of making and possessing hundreds of indecent child images as well as arranging to meet a parent in order to facilitate a child sex offence.

R v KR, Chelmsford Crown Court

The defendant, who was over 70 years old, was accused of historic crimes relating to multiple counts of rape of a child over 20 years ago.

R v K, St Albans Crown Court

Death by dangerous driving case.

R v F, Snaresbrook Crown Court

Allegation of intentional dangerous driving where we made a successful half time submission and the defendant was acquitted.

R v K, Harrow Crown Court

Client charged with dangerous driving and alleged to have driven his car with his partner on top of the bonnet for almost half a mile.

R v F, Snaresbrook Crown Court

Client charged with dangerous driving as well as other offences after an allegation that he tried to run into a number of members of the public.

Hungry v M, Westminster Magistrates' Court

​Court was persuaded to withdraw the European Arrest Warrant issued in connection with human trafficking allegations due to the client’s serious illness.

Lithuania v G, Westminster Magistrates' Court

A European Arrest Warrant was issued pursuant to a convictions of robbery and driving offences. It was successfully discharged on Article 8 grounds (right to family and private life).

Moldova v C, Westminster Magistrates' Court

This was a Part 2 arrest warrant. Extradition was successfully resisted on the basis that Moldova applied for an incorrect arrest warrant and the fraud offence alleged was not a criminal offence under the English law due to the pre-requisite mens rea element not being part of the offence under the Moldovan law.

IF v Government of India, High Court (appeal)

Successfully appealed a Part 2 conviction extradition warrant from India where our client was wanted to finish serving his 10-year sentence for supplying class A drugs.

AS v Lithuania & the UK, High Court and the European Court of Human Rights

Appeal at the ECtHR of an extradition order by the UK for a vulnerable individual to be extradited to Lithuania to face regulatory charges.

D v Germany, High Court (appeal)

Leading extradition case in relation to section 12A of the Extradition Act 2003 (“Absence of prosecution decision”). The warrant against the client was successfully discharged on grounds of section 12A, as well as Article 8 (right to family and private life).

E v Italy, High Court (appeal)

Leading case with respect to Italian prison assurances. Client was requested by Italy following a conviction and sentence for rape.

S v Romania, High Court (appeal)

Successfully discharged an accusation European Arrest Warrant on appeal arguing particularity grounds. The case concerned an allegation of a large multinational fraud conspiracy where the client was said to be the leader of the criminal organisation.