A Gulf War veteran has been convicted of laundering nearly £37,000 in Aberdeen.
During a three day trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Steven Carle told jurors he was tricked into handling thousands of pounds of illicit cash by a man posing as a fellow soldier.
Ex-Royal Engineer Steven Carle told Aberdeen Sheriff Court he set up a business bank account to help a “brother in arms” hide money from his estranged wife.
He claimed although he knew the money was in his account he had no idea it was “ill gotten gains”.
But yesterday, a jury of 10 women and five men took two hours to find Carle guilty of concealing or removing almost £37,000 in cash over a three-day period after it was illicitly obtained through fraud.
The 43-year-old had denied the charge and claimed he did not know, nor did he have a reasonable belief, that the cash was a product of criminal activity.
Throughout the trial the court heard the ex-squaddie, who has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was asked to set up a business bank account in his own name by a man called Michael whom he met in a city-centre pub in 2011.
The court heard the man – who went by the name Mike or Mick – convinced Carle that he was also ex-Army and that he was going through a bad divorce.
Carle said that after a number of meetings in the pub, the man asked him to open a bank account so he could hide the profits of his engineering company from his estranged wife.
However, the cash going into his trading account had actually been fraudulently obtained from four people who believed they were buying shares in a company.
The complainers, who made a number of deposits totalling £36,672.34 into the business account, received nothing after their money was handed over.
Carle told the court he had struggled with civilian life after returning from Iraq, but had trusted “Mick” – even meeting him at the Castlegate several times to hand him a shoe box full of £50 notes.
Carle, of Room 22, Rosendale, 3 Victoria Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, claimed he had no idea there was anything suspicious about the cash until he received a citation from the procurator fiscal.
Sheriff Graeme Napier deferred sentence for background reports.