fashion police | 

Woman earning €30,000 a year had thousands of euros’ worth of designer items in her home

Ms Fan, who said she is a lover of fashion, denied the goods were bought as part of a sophisticated money-laundering operation between Ireland and China

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A fur coat and tens of thousands of euro worth of designer bags were among the Aladdin’s Cave of luxury items seized from a woman allegedly linked to a Chinese drugs gang.

The Sunday World has obtained the list of jaw-dropping designer goods that were among 88 items seized during a raid in on the home of Yan Yan Fan March 2021.

Now, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) are seeking a court order to have the cash and goods declared the proceeds of crime.

The items include a Chanel Petite Timeless Tote Black Caviar Leather valued at €2,500, a Louis Vuitton On-the-Go Tote MM valued at €2,000, a Chanel Medallion Bag with Grained Calfskin valued at €4,400 and a Louis Vuitton Petite Malle Trunk valued at €3,950.

Other items include a Chanel Gold Vinyl Chain Shopper valued at €1,000, a Louis Vuitton Passport Cover Monogram valued at €245, Jimmy Choo shoes as well as €229,000 in a solicitor’s client account.

Ms Fan, who said she is a lover of fashion, denied the goods were bought as part of a sophisticated money-laundering operation between Ireland and China.

She spent €129,000 on luxury goods on her platinum Brown Thomas card between 2010 and 2020, but in a bizarre twist it emerged she now works as a sales assistant at the upmarket store.

Counsel for CAB Jim Benson said the cash seized included €14,000 found at Ms Fan’s home, which she claims belonged to a man staying in her apartment

The man, Guang Ying Wang, is also named in the CAB case and is not contesting the claim, although he told gardaí at the time he won it playing poker.

The Bureau’s case is that Ms Fan is linked to an organised crime gang involved in cannabis grow-houses and that she had a role managing properties.

Mr Wang, who had been staying at her apartment, is currently in prison in the State, it was heard.

She is also linked to 12 bank accounts which she controls, in which €1.7m went through since 2005.

Counsel for CAB said it “beggars belief” that all the cash transactions came from her parents in China, and that her evidence it came from the sale of property was “inconsistent.”

The purchase of the luxury goods could not have been funded by her declared income, which at its highest was just under €30,000 a year, CAB have claimed.

A property in Dublin was bought for €145,000 in 2015, and later sold for €229,000, using bank drafts and cash transfer and €50,000 from “unknown sources.”

While she says the money came from her parents, CAB said she did not provide any evidence to back her assertion.

Investigators claim the goods were part of a money-laundering system using the ‘daigou’ method in which money is sent from China to buy luxury goods abroad.

Yan Yan Fan defended herself at the High Court proceedings last week, where she told Judge Alex Owens she had no involvement in crime.

She stated in evidence that she had been in China at the time of the raid and Wang had stayed there because she had offered a surety for him while facing charges.

Ms Fan said money for the property came from her parents first to buy an apartment in Navan for €85,000, which was later sold at a profit.

Some cash lodgements at ATMs in Dublin city were from Chinese tourists who she said have to carry cash to enter the State, when she worked as a tour guide.

“I don’t know why they don’t believe me,” she said about CAB.

The designer goods found at her apartment were her own personal collection and some were fakes that she had bought at markets in China.

She said a Birkin bag was bought for US dollars through a website “for myself” in 2018, asking the judge: “Why buy it from the US and keep it for five years if it is money-laundering?”

A Chanel bag that had been seized was bought in China and what would be the point in bringing it back if she was money laundering, she added.

She said the shoes date back to before 2011 and were for her use, with one pair valued at €1,000 she bought on sale for €150.

Ms Fan said she spends money on shoes and clothes, “it’s the only hobby I have.”

The headline figure of €1.7m put forward by CAB is “shocking” she said but that it is not true when you go into the detail.

She said a lot of the transactions are in fact the same money being moved about with sale of apartments and transfers from her parents.

​Judge Owens will deliver a judgement at a later date.