Forth Valley student jailed for laundering over £84,000 of gangland crime cash

Xiaotong Huang, 28, used the money to fund a luxury spending spree that included buying designer label items and expensive wines as well as paying for her tuition fees at the University of Stirling.

Spending from one account alone totalled £12,479 and included items bought from Gucci, Burberry and Coach as well as £797 on goods from Harrods.

She also purchased £6900 worth of wine over two separate payments of £3500 and £3400 one week apart, as well as spending £480 on a Louis Vuitton bag.

Huang was convicted at Falkirk Sheriff Court in March following a six-day trial after jurors unanimously found her guilty of charges under proceeds of crime legislation.

They convicted her of laundering a total of £84,912.

The charge was aggravated by her connection to serious and organised crime.

Huang arrived in Scotland from China in 2019 on a temporary student visa, which allowed her to work only a maximum of 20 hours per week during term time.

However, the court heard there was no record of HMRC activity or of any benefits having been paid to Huang, who had no visible income stream.

Prosecutors enlisted a financial intelligence analyst to forensically examine Huang’s accounts and compile an itemised breakdown of her banking activities.

They pieced together her life of crime by following the trail of complex transactions which revealed how the money was transferred into those accounts by multiple third parties.

One account showed a total of £153,071 being credited from cash deposits and third-party transfers,while examination of another account showed that £61,006.97 was

deposited between June 2019 and May 2021.

And a further £58,014.03 flowed into another account in Huang’s name between June 2019 and May 2021.

In total, the student spent £35,758 on the High Street and online between 2019 and 2022.

The money-laundering scheme began to unravel in April 2021, when undercover police officers were carrying out surveillance on an individual suspected of high-level

money laundering for a Scottish organised crime group dealing in illegal drugs.

Huang, wearing a cream coat with distinctive red sleeves and with a mask over her face, was seen leaving the man’s Mercedes in Stirling carrying a brown paper bag.

Minutes later, undercover surveillance officers saw her produce an inch and a half thick bundle of cash from the brown paper bag and deposit £3500 at the travel

money counter at the Post Office at WH Smith in the Thistle Shopping Centre, Stirling.

On itemising the transactions in and out of the various accounts, the criminal intelligence analyst noted the accused moved money between accounts numerous

times a day and in varying amounts.

Huang was arrested on April 21, 2021 at her home, with police officers identifying the cream coat which was draped over a chair.

Kenny Donnelly, deputy crown agent, specialist casework, said he hoped Huang’s 18-month prison sentence would be a deterrent to others not to be lured into a world

of serious organised crime and money laundering.

He said: “Money laundering is not a victimless crime and plays an integral role in a complex, large- scale operation which facilitates the criminal activity of others.”