Convicted fraudster who owes the taxpayer £240,000 is ordered to hand over his £30,000 poker winnings after being caught trying to keep his windfall a secret

• Fraudster was jailed in 2015 over scam, but said he had no assets to pay back
• Since being freed from jail, he has won tens of thousands in poker tournaments
• HMRC have now seized a second tranche of winnings from him, totalling £10k 

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A fraudster turned poker champ has been left empty-handed after he had his winnings seized by the taxman.

Adam Lulat, of Preston, was jailed for 28 months in 2015 for his involvement in a £40m money laundering and VAT scam.

When authorities tried to get back the money he made from the scam, he insisted he had no assets and only had to pay £1.

But since being freed from prison, the 27-year-old has become a top poker player, winning tens of thousands of pounds at cards.

HMRC investigators discovered his new-found wealth and have now seized nearly £100,000 from him.

Adam Lulat, a convicted fraudster now winning thousands at poker, has had his winnings confiscated by the taxman

Last August, they took £68,930 after he won the sum at a poker tournament in Manchester that March. And last month, Lulat was ordered to pay a further £30,200 of new prize money he won.

A judge at Manchester Crown Court gave Lulat three months to pay or he will face an 18-month jail term.

Lulat, pictured after his arrest

Debbie Porter, Assistant Director at HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: ‘Lulat may have hoped that his win would go under the table, but once again we had an ace up our sleeve and it is HMRC cashing in his chips.

‘This sends a clear message that HMRC will relentlessly pursue criminals for their ill-gotten gains.’

Lulat’s fraud gang was among a number that laundered £40 million of cash through multiple bank accounts in the UK and other countries between September 2010 and November 2011.

They were also behind a separate VAT fraud and HMRC investigators tracked their activities across Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

They fabricated businesses to make fraudulent VAT repayment claims against multiple EU member states using a complex web of transactions.

European enforcement agencies helped to expose the gang’s use of bank accounts and money service bureaux to launder the money across borders.

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The assistant director of HMRC’s fraud squad said: ‘We’re cashing in his chips’. File photo

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