A businessman allegedly linked to organised crime has had almost £10million worth of properties, cash and land seized through an unexplained wealth order – including a Yorkshire mansion and an apartment in Knightsbridge.
Mansoor Mahmood Hussain, 40, had ‘strong connections’ to ‘notorious criminals’ in the Leeds and Bradford area, including a murderer currently serving 26 years in prison, the National Crime Agency said.
But Hussain has now had to hand over 45 properties, including million-pound mansions and apartment blocks in London, Cheshire and Leeds, along with £583,950 in cash and four parcels of land.
These properties include a £1.25million seven-bedroom property in Leeds which was his main home and an apartment block in the West Yorkshire city which had a project value of £1.3million when built.
Hussain, who proudly posed with celebrities including Meghan Markle and Beyonce, also had a flat on a road in Knightsbridge where homes have an average value of £1.5million as well as a tiny £230,000 studio in the area.
Mansoor Hussain, who boasted of his A-list connections including Meghan Markle in 2013 (pictured), laundered vast sums for criminal networks, investigators say
Among 45 properties Hussain had to hand back was this gated seven-bedroom family home in Leeds worth £1.25million
Another view of the £1.25million property at Sandmoor Drive in Leeds, which Hussain was forced to hand back
Among Hussain’s property empire confiscated by the NCA is this home in Knightsbridge at 101 Walton Street, a street with an average house value of £1.5million
Investigators believe the Poundworld owner and property developer laundered vast sums of money for criminal networks linked to a convicted murderer, drug dealing and arms trafficking.
And in the first successful use of a ‘McMafia’ order – so called after the BBC TV drama series starring James Norton – the millionaire businessman has had to hand over dozens of properties.
Six men with criminal links to Mansoor Hussain
The NCA told the High Court that it suspects Mr Hussain of acting as a professional enabler and serial money launderer for a number of people involved in organised crime gangs. These included one in Bradford operated by the Khan family, headed by Mohammed Nisar Khan and his brother Shamsher Khan, and another operating across the North of England run by Dennis Slade.
The NCA set out the alleged and known criminal activities of a series of people, linked to drug disputes, gang violence, armed robbery and serious fraud.
These people include:
Mohammed Nisar Khan is a murderer serving a life term
1) Mohammed ‘Meggy’ Nisar Khan, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Amriz Iqbal and believed to be responsible for numerous serious assaults, including attempted murder, as well as involvement in the illicit trafficking of drugs and firearms on his own behalf and that of other organised crime gangs, with a significant record of previous convictions, largely for violence and drug-related crimes. Hussain paid Khan’s son’s private school fees for just over two years, costing just under £10,000;
2) Shamsher Khan, who is known to the police for violence and drug-related offences, as well as obtaining mortgages by fraud and money laundering offences;
3) Dennis Slade, who was the head of an organised crime gang involved in cash-in-transit robberies involving firearms, which operated across the north of England, and who has various convictions for, among other things, burglary, theft, handling stolen goods and crimes of violence including assaults occasioning grievous bodily harm (GBH) and actual bodily harm (ABH) as well as suspected connection to two murders for which he was arrested but not charged;
4) Maxine Valentine, Slade’s estranged wife, who is said to have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle on her husband’s criminal earnings and who was convicted at Teesside Crown Court on January 28, 2011 on two counts of money laundering, for which she received a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment;
5) Simon Morris, a former Leeds United director who has previous convictions for dishonesty offences, has also been implicated in Slade’s fraud offending and was arrested by West Yorkshire Police in connection with a multi-million pound property fraud along with a Irfan Ali, who is a close associate of Mohammed Khan; and
6) Brian Morris, father of Simon Morris, who also has previous convictions for dishonesty offences and was arrested alongside his son and Ali in connection with the multi-million pound property fraud.
As part of the settlement, the NCA – dubbed ‘Britain’s FBI’ – has left him with four small properties that are still mortgaged, and cash in a bank account that was not part of the original investigation.
The NCA used an unexplained wealth order (UWO) to target the alleged criminal, who has spent years flaunting his money.
Hussain’s Twitter and Instagram pages are filled with pictures of him posing with stars, politicians and royalty in locations such as Barbados, New York, Monaco and Saint-Tropez.
In one photograph, which he repeatedly posted on social media, he can be seen hugging Meghan Markle at the Global Gift Gala in London in 2013, three years before she met Prince Harry.
After the royal marriage, Hussain republished the image to his 134,000 Instagram followers, captioned: ‘Great night with the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle.’
As the director of a set production company which ran shows for Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls and Take That, Hussain – who calls himself Manni Boss – never missed a photo opportunity.
He has been pictured with Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green, Cherie Blair, Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan and entrepreneur Michelle Mone.
There is no suggestion that any of the celebrities he met were involved in any wrongdoing.
Hussain, who started his first business at 18, boasts of travelling by private jet and owning a fleet of luxury vehicles including Rolls Royces and Range Rovers.
But the NCA believes his jet-set lifestyle was financed by money laundering for notorious gangs.
According to investigators, Hussain has links to Mohammed Nisar Khan, a convicted murderer serving a 26-year sentence. He also used a convicted fraudster as his accountant and allegedly allowed an armed robber to stay at his seven-bedroom mansion and penthouse, the NCA says.
It believes he used threats of violence and blackmail to buy his properties.
Investigators realised the scale of his assets only when he submitted 127 lever arch folders and a 76-page statement to explain where his money came from, inadvertently giving officers clues to make a bigger case against him.
UWOs were introduced in 2018 to give the authorities the power to look into the source of wealth of suspected criminals and politically exposed persons.
The one against Hussain last year was the first to be solely based on alleged links to organised crime.
The NCA pursued the case in the civil courts, rather than the criminal courts, due to the difficulty in assembling financial evidence capable of securing a conviction.
Andy Lewis, head of civil recovery at the NCA, said while Hussain initially appeared to be a successful businessman with no convictions, there was a ‘compelling case’ he was an alleged money launderer and had links to those involved in the drugs trade.
‘We showed him the evidence and he decided to come to a settlement with us,’ Mr Lewis said.
‘He took the view that was the best action for him, rather than go to court and potentially lose all those assets.’
The biggest property seizure was a block of 36 apartments and offices called Cubic, on the outskirts of Leeds, which was owned by Hussain
Another view of the apartment block in Leeds, which had a project value of £1.3million when it was built
Princes Court in Knightsbridge, London, the location of Flat M, one of the properties of Mansoor Mahmood Hussain. He owns a tiny studio inside worth £230,000
The biggest single property handed over to the NCA is a high-specification apartment and office development, Cubic, on the outskirts of Leeds, which Mr Hussain wholly owned through one of his many companies.
The other properties include a home on one of the city’s most expensive roads, an apartment opposite Harrods in London and terraced housing in Leeds and Bradford.
In High Court legal papers, the NCA said it believed the seed money for Cubic’s development and other property purchases must have come from Mr Hussain’s criminal associates because they could find no legitimate source for his wealth.
He had paid virtually no income tax in some years and many of his 77 companies were dormant.
The court was told Mr Hussain was thought to be a ‘clean skin’ – a businessman free of convictions, acting as a professional money-launderer.
A fleet of luxury cars including a Rolls Royce with personalised plates that belonged to Hussain
It believes Hussain (pictured) used threats of violence and blackmail to buy his properties
Hussain was the director of a set production company which ran shows for Beyonce (pictured), Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls and Take That
Hussain met the former Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand (left) and lingerie entrepreneur Michelle Mone (right) at various parties and social events
Hussain’s Twitter and Instagram pages are filled with pictures of him posing with stars including Simon Cowell (pictured)
A settlement between Hussain and the NCA was agreed on August 24, with the High Court sealing the asset recovery order on October 2.
Graeme Biggar, head of economic crime at the NCA, said: ‘This case is a milestone, demonstrating the power of Unexplained Wealth Orders, with significant implications for how we pursue illicit finance in the UK.
‘This ground-breaking investigation has recovered millions of pounds worth of criminally-obtained property.
‘It is crucial for the economic health of local communities such as Leeds, and for the country as a whole, that we ensure property and other assets are held legitimately.’