Bargain Hunt star jailed for selling art to suspected Hezbollah financier

A former Bargain Hunt art expert has been jailed for two years and six months for failing to declare art he sold to a suspected financier of Hezbollah.

In the first prosecution of its kind, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, admitted eight counts under the Terrorism Act 2000 of failing to make a disclosure during the course of business before his sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday. Hezbollah is a group proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK.

Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri had been aware the art he had sold was to Nazem Ahmad, who had been sanctioned in 2019 by the US authorities.

“These offences are so severe that only a custodial sentence can be justified,” she said.

“Your hard work, talent and charisma has brought you a great deal of success… you knew you should not have been dealing with that man.”

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb added there was no evidence Ojiri supported any form of extremism but that his conduct undermined the detection of terrorist financing.

Gavin Irwin, representing Ojiri, said the art expert’s “humiliation is complete” with the star losing “his good name” and the “work he loves.”

“He’d like to apologise for undermining trust” in the art market, Mr Irwin said, adding Ojiri had been naïve.

Ojiri’s motivation appeared “to be financial along with a broader desire to boost his gallery’s reputation within the art market by dealing with such a well-known collector,” said Bethan David, head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division.

“This prosecution is believed to be the first of its kind, and the CPS will not hesitate to bring criminal charges against individuals who flout the law in this way.”

So how did an art expert, famous for appearing on UK daytime television get mixed up in funding Hezbollah?

The Old Bailey heard UK law enforcement had been alerted to suspicious transactions linked to Mr Ahmad by their counterparts in the US.

Mr Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by US authorities because he is believed to be a top donor to Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and military group, which is backed by Iran and banned as a terrorist organisation by the US and UK.

Hezbollah used Mr Ahmad, who has joint Lebanese-Belgian nationality, “to launder substantial amounts of money bound for the terrorist group”, according to the US Treasury department.

It claims he has longstanding ties with the illegal trade in “blood diamonds.”

US authorities are offering a $10m reward for information about Mr Ahmad, who is thought to still be in Lebanon.

Transactions uncovered by UK police showed he paid nearly £140,000 for works, which he had shipped from London to Dubai and Beirut.

He bought them from Ojiri, including a £20,000 painting by Icelandic artist Baldur Helgason.

Ojiri founded Ramp Gallery, now known as the Ojiri Gallery, based in east London.

He came to public prominence with appearances in the BBC series Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, before hitting the big time on Bargain Hunt, in 2019.

He has also appeared on Channel 5’s Storage: Flog the Lot! In 2021, he joined Antiques Road Trip.

By this time, he had made several secret sales of art to the suspected Hezbollah financier.

Although he was careful to keep Mr Ahmad’s name off the paperwork, officers in the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit tracked the money to Ojiri and, in April 2023, police arrested him.

On the same day the Treasury sanctioned Mr Ahmad and banned him from travelling to the UK.

The US authorities also charged Mr Ahmad with defrauding the US and foreign governments, money laundering and sanctions evasion, claiming companies connected to him had been engaged in more than $400m worth of financial transactions between 2020 and 2022.

As part of the American case, the Met police arrested a man living in Hayes, west London, for extradition to the US. Sundar Nagarajan is now awaiting trial in New York, accused of acting as Mr Ahmad’s accountant and advisor.

At first, Ochuko Ojiri refused to answer police questions, but in a prepared statement he said he had no reason to believe Mr Ahmad was a terrorist and money launderer.

But evidence seized from his phone showed he had researched who Mr Ahmad was and knew he had been sanctioned by the US. A colleague had even messaged to warn him against doing business with Mr Ahmad.

At today’s sentencing hearing Lyndon Harris, for the prosecution, said “analysis of Ojiri’s phone revealed Mr Ahmad was in his contacts as ‘Moss Collector’, a name deliberately chosen to disguise the art collector as one of his contacts.”

The Old Bailey heard how Mr Ahmad had sent Ojiri messages on email and Instagram. “The defendant engaged in sales discussions and sales with Nazem Ahmad and his associates” over a 14-month period.

He explained how Ojiri’s arrest came after people working in the art market were brought into the regulated sector in 2020, meaning they were bound by anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures to report suspicious transactions or face prosecution.

The TV star was charged under a section of the Terrorism Act 2000 that has never been used before. Police hope it will send a clear message to those doing business in the art world.

“You will need to make sure you are doing your due diligence,” says Cdr Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command

Last year, the National Crime Agency issued an amber alert warning that storage facilities for artwork could be used by criminals “seeking a capital asset that can be safely stored, that appreciates in value over time, and that can be liquidated if and when required”.

It followed the seizure of 23 paintings, worth almost £1m, from a warehouse and an auction house in London. The art, which included work by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, belonged to Mr Ahmad.

It will soon be sold off at auction as the proceeds of crime and the money raised will go to the Home Office to be used in the fight against crime.