Two men from Ealing have been jailed for their roles in a £23.4 million money laundering operation that converted criminal cash into cryptocurrency for organised crime gangs.
Michael Konnor, 27, of Braund Avenue, Greenford, and Shiraz Khan, 47, of Edgehill Road, Ealing, were among four men sentenced last week (12 June 2026) following an HM Revenue and Customs investigation into the scheme.
Prosecutors said Konnor and Khan were at the centre of the operation, which laundered millions of pounds between January 2018 and June 2020 through bank accounts before the money was exchanged for cryptocurrency.
The pair continued laundering money even after they were arrested in December 2019, according to investigators.
HMRC said more than £4.5 million was laundered after their arrests as the group adapted its methods and began using companies, bank accounts and cryptocurrency accounts held in other people’s names.
The men communicated using EncroChat, the encrypted phone network widely used by criminals before it was dismantled by international law enforcement agencies in 2020.
Messages recovered by investigators included references to cash collections, drug dealing, extortion and kidnapping.
One message sent to Khan in April 2020 stated: “The truth is he will not want to pay. He will only pay cos we will have his son.”
Investigators said the group laundered £23.4 million during the operation. More than £27 million passed through accounts linked to the network, with £19.1 million transferred to cryptocurrency traders.
Konnor was jailed for four years and six months after admitting money laundering offences. Khan was sentenced to 11 years following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Two other members of the group were also jailed.
John Geddes, 76, of Horsham, West Sussex, received six years and six months after acting as a cash courier for the network. He was stopped in Wanstead in 2019 with almost £150,000 in his car.
Carlos Zapata, 58, of Birmingham, was jailed for five years and nine months.
Margaret Mousley, deputy director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “The messages exchanged by this gang shows the link between money laundering and the serious and organised criminals that bring misery to our communities.”
The Crown Prosecution Service has launched action to recover the proceeds of crime.
