Moves to recover proceeds of alleged fraud

A drug dealer linked to a Bitcoin scam as part of an international money laundering scheme believes the Crown is seeking to claw back £ 800,000 from him.

Dale Pearson told a court y e s t e r d ay he planned to defend himself against prosecutors in a Proceeds of Crime case.

Pe a r s o n , who is serving five years in jail for drug offences, had previously been charged with setting up a web design c o m p a ny to front a large-scale fraud.

He was said to have scammed a £250,000 mortgage before “concealing, disguising, converting and transferring” cash and Bitcoin amounting to £789,046.64 over the course of six years.

The money laundering charges, said to be connected to serious and organised crime, were dropped when Pearson admitted dealing cocaine and ketamine.

Yesterday, when the Proceeds of Crime case called, Pearson told Dundee Sheriff Court he had dropped his lawyer and would be defending himself.

Sheriff George Way deferred the case to a further hearing in April.

In 2018, Pe a r s o n faced a 12-charge indictment in court alleging he moved vast sums of money around and used a fraudulent m o r t g a ge to buy a luxury six-bedroom property in Dundee.

Prosecutors alleged he laundered cash through various bank accounts and converted £ 25, 900. 91 into the online cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

He was eventually convicted of drug dealing after Parcelforce staff found bags of white powder stuffed inside a board game being sent to a Dundee address.

He also a d m i tt e d having other drugs and was jailed for five years.