Jogesh Bhandari, 59, and Craig Morris were sentenced after millions paid for PPE were spent on luxury cars and home upgrades instead of gloves for hospitals. Bhandari and Morris set up a company in 2020 to buy and sell nitrile gloves. In November 2020, Bhandari agreed a deal to provide 12 million boxes of gloves. Money was supposed to be held in an escrow account, but it was moved and paid out soon after it landed, including payments to Bhandari, Frank Labruzzo and other companies. A month later, Bhandari received a further $2.7m into the escrow account and withdrew $500,000 to pay off debts. In early 2021, the company was paid more than $3.18m for gloves to be delivered to US hospitals, but no deliveries were made. Payments were also taken into a business account controlled by Meenakshi Bhandari, who sent £200,000 to Morris, while Jogesh bought a new Porsche. Judge heard that Morris and Bhandari shared more than 47,000 messages about their scheme. In one message, Bhandari told Morris to help “with a scam”, asking him to pose as a previous satisfied customer. Morris replied that he would do what he could. Other messages included discussion about blackmailing a supplier and references to “show me the money”. The court heard that £126,000 was spent on the Porsche, with £200,000 also sent to Morris. Bank records showed hundreds of thousands of pounds used instead on Rolexes and other luxury watches, expensive jewellery, and multiple cars, including an Audi A5, a Land Rover Discovery and a VW Golf, as well as worldwide luxury travel and holiday packages. Meenakshi Bhandari was also charged with money laundering. Payments were made to “Rodi” to repay a debt owed by Meenakshi, and investigators said she was aware the funds came from Bhandari’s fraudulent activity. All three were arrested in February 2023 and charged with fraud by false representation and money laundering. After a five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court, they were convicted in July. Bhandari failed to appear for sentencing on two occasions due to health issues. A bench warrant was issued and he returned for sentencing on 16 October. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. Morris was sentenced on 7 October to three years and nine months in prison. Meenakshi Bhandari was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, with a requirement to undertake 250 hours of unpaid work.