A fraudster has been jailed after stealing £91,000 from a breast cancer charity to fund a lavish wedding and honeymoon.
Tameem Choudhury, a 29-year-old finance worker from Stoke Newington, worked within Breast Cancer Now’s finance team.
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He carried out the fraud by redirecting funds intended for The Royal Marsden Hospital into his personal bank account.
The specialist cancer hospital, established in 1851, operates from sites in Chelsea, Sutton and Cavendish Square.
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Choudhury pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation on August 11 2023, and to converting criminal property between August 11 and October 9 2023.
According to the charges, Choudhury “abused his position as an employee of Breast Cancer Now… by providing false bank account details to The Royal Marsden in order for funds… to be directed into his own personal bank account”.
In just 48 hours, he burned through more than £49,000 of the stolen money.
He also funnelled cash to debt collection agencies and made transfers to relatives.
In messages sent to friends, Choudhury had described himself as “borderline broke”.
His spending spree was ultimately curtailed when Santander flagged suspicious activity on his account and shut it down, freezing £42,866.25 that remained inside.
The stolen funds were spent on luxury items, flights to Qatar, wedding and honeymoon expenses, and various retail purchases.
He also converted the criminal proceeds through online and card transactions.
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Prosecutor Lucy Sutton told the court there had been an “abuse of position of responsibility”.
Breast Cancer Now, which describes itself as the country’s foremost breast cancer charity, channels its funding into scientific research and support services for those affected by the disease.
Choudhury exploited his role in the organisation’s financial operations to carry out the scheme over nearly two months before his activities were detected.
He was handed a 30-month custodial sentence.
The charity confirmed that all stolen funds have since been recovered and that it suffered no financial loss as a result of Choudhury’s actions.
It added that a comprehensive review of its internal procedures had been undertaken to prevent any recurrence.
Detective Constable Yusuf Meerza, from the City of London Police’s Fraud Operations team, said: “Choudhury abused a position of trust within a charity dedicated to funding life-saving breast cancer research.”
He added: “Choudhury’s actions betrayed that trust and placed charitable funds at risk for his own personal gain.”
DC Meerza said the case illustrated how fraud could be perpetrated from within organisations by those entrusted with protecting their finances, and pledged that the police would continue working with partners to recover stolen money and bring offenders to justice.
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