Ololade Adeyanju/
Two Nigerians were among four former Lloyds employees jailed for 38 years for raiding bank accounts of wealthy clients to fund their luxury lifestyles.
Courtney Ayinbode, 29, and Benjamin Omoregie, 26, were both sentenced for their involvement in the “high-level and sophisticated” scam that took place between 2012 and 2013.
The other two were named as Tajinder Galsinh, 35, Molly Jones, 24.
The four insiders dug into the bank’s computer system for rarely-accessed accounts holding large sums of money before passing the details to a criminal gang.
They also ordered new bank cards so impostors could pose as the customers and set up transfers of hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time.
The money was then laundered through a series of bogus companies before being moved offshore to prevent it being recovered.
One victim lost more than £750,000 after an unknown man used a fake driving licence in his name to set up two transfers over three days.
Another customer with £3 million in the bank only avoided becoming a victim when another member of staff became suspicious and rang him up to check.
The money was laundered by Eddie Lakes, 41, and his frontman, Kushveer Raulia, 25, through a complicated network of fake companies and accounts with the help of Parvez Hussain, 50.
The trio were also jailed for their part in the scam.
Prosecutor, Paul Cavin, said “a lot of expensive designer clothing and shoes” were found in Omoregie’s car boot, including a Vivienne Westwood shirt worth £230.
Omoregie had previously refused to tell police where his car, holding the stash of designer goods, was located.
Cavin said the gang “were all involved in an agreement to defraud Lloyds TSB of millions of pounds”.
He told the court: “Accounts belonging to people with large balances – in some cases several millions of pounds – were targeted.
“To identify those rich accounts, an insider, an employee of the bank was recruited to help the gang. The insider would then assist in breaching the security protocols in order to steal the money.
“The money would be transferred to accomplices who would swiftly transfer the money through a number of bogus businesses before eventually the money would disappear offshore. Once it is offshore it can come back onshore and nobody can trace it.”
Ayinbode 