Fraudsters who carried out a personal protective equipment scam during the pandemic splashed hundreds of thousands of pounds they conned from major American companies15:40, 16 Jul 2026A married couple and their friend who duped major companies into paying millions for Covid PPE equipment which never arrived spent the stolen money on luxury cars, holidays and house renovations.Disgraced Jogesh Bhandari set up his own company in 2020 with the aim of making money from the pandemic. The 59-year-old and Craig Morris, 43, were convicted on Wednesday following a trial, of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation as well as concealing and transferring criminal property, LeicestershireLive reports.Meenakashi Bhandari, 48, was found guilty of concealing and transferring criminal property. The couple, from Loughborough, Leicestershire, also spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on Rolexes watched and other jewellery, with Mr Bhandari splashing out £126,000 on a brand new Porsche.The convictions come after the Covid inquiry published its damning report finding that millions of taxpayers' money wasted on poor PPE.Jogesh and Meena Bhandari worked with Lancashire fraudster Morris who had sent them a message when the outbreak began saying: "All over the news is all about PPE shortage. Let's clean up!! Milk it." He added: "Fill ya boots."Bhandari replied with a thumbs up, adding: "It's about good teamwork and everyone making money." He later sent Morris a picture of a Rolls-Royce, saying: "If I want one of these then we need to keep going."Instead of a Rolls-Royce he ended up buying a £126,000 Porsche, an Audi A5, a Land Rover Discovery and a VW Golf. Other cash was spent on a kitchen refurbishment and extensive home improvements on the Loughborough home in Mitchell Drive he shared with Meena, 58.They were investigated by the National Crime Agency which found that Jogesh Bhandari had worked with Frank Labruzzo, a crooked US assistant attorney general at the Louisiana State Department of Justice, who provided a fraudulent escrow service.An escrow account is a bank account which acts as a holding point for funds that are released when both sides of an agreement have been reached.Jogesh Bhandari's first fraudulent activity began in November 2020 where he agreed a deal with a company to provide 12 million boxes of gloves.The company paid the escrow account and, rather than funds remaining in the account until the deal was complete, the money was immediately moved, paid to Labruzzo, Bhandari and other companies.In a second deal a month later, Bhandari received a further $2.7 million into the account, and almost $500,000 was withdrawn to pay off his and his wife's debts.Bhandari supplied a number of forged documents to potential suppliers, including bank statements showing up to $125 million in his account and letters of attestation to try and persuade businesses to trade with him.In early 2021, he was paid more than $3.18 million for an order of nitrile gloves to be delivered to US hospitals that were never delivered.His final fraud took place in late 2021 where Bhandari persuaded a supplier he was a big player in the PPE industry and had access to hundreds of millions of dollars.The company agreed to a deal worth $1.8 billion and Labruzzo provided a fraudulent letter to state Bhandari had deposited $35 million as a security against the first delivery. The company then paid $1.35 million for the first two planned shipments.In the final deal, Bhandari received the $1.35 million straight into Bhandari's business account, controlled by his wife Meena, from where he sent £200,000 to Morris and bought himself a brand-new Porsche.Almsot 50,000 WhatsApp messages and emails were swapped between the defendants during the course of their criminality. The fraud ended after the couple had a falling out with Morris, 43, of Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.All three defendants were arrested in February 2023 and charged with several counts of fraud by false representation and money laundering.‌They appeared at Leicester Crown Court for a five-week trial and were convicted on Wednesday, July 15. Labruzzo, alongside one other person, has already been convicted in the US.The Bhandaris and Morris will be sentenced at the same court on Friday, August 21.Paul Boniface, operations manager at the National Crime Agency, said: "The Covid-19 pandemic was a time of uncertainty for the world, and the increased need for PPE equipment was sudden.‌"This gave fraudsters like the Bhandaris and Morris an opportunity to target businesses and line their own pockets."Bhandari and his co-conspirators capitalised on these vulnerabilities by exploiting people and businesses for their own financial gain, paying for lavish lifestyles of luxury cars and significant home improvements."Fraud like this diverts essential equipment away from genuine organisations and the effects are far reaching, beyond immediate losses for the legitimate businesses involved.Article continues below"The NCA will continue to target fraudsters like these who cause significant harm to the UK economy."