Brothel pimp who posed as plumber to con taxman out of £10k facing jail

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A tax dodging pimp who posed as a plumber to con HMRC into paying him nearly £10,000 while he was running a string of Romanian prostitutes across Dundee has been warned he is facing jail.Eduard Stanciu filed a false claim to the taxman and was given a rebate of £9,840.56 while he was living off the immoral earnings of sex workers imported from his homeland.

Stanciu, who had initially faced human trafficking charges, was freed on bail at Dundee Sheriff Court on Wednesday, July 5. Prostitute Cristina Gaica, who admitted failing to appear for court after more serious charges against her were dropped, was admonished by Sheriff Paul Brown.He allowed the mother-of-two to escape punishment after being told she had spent a month in custody in Romania before being returned to Scotland to face justice.The prostitution-ring in Dundee was uncovered after police received a tip-off which led to raids on three properties in Blackness Road and Arklay Street in August 2019.Fiscal depute Stewart Duncan told the court that Stanciu and Gaica were in a relationship and neither of them had any visible means of income while they were in Scotland.He said: "Police received a call from a male stating that he had been at a brothel on two occasions.

Police attended flats A and B at 180 Blackness Road."There were six Romanian females within flat A. They all confirmed they were not in any danger and were free to go about their business as they wished."They all admitted being involved in providing sexual services, but denied it was a brothel.

Flat B had one male [Stanciu] and three females [Gaica and two others]. None admitted being sex workers."An operation was initiated to establish if there was evidence of trafficking, prostitution and associated