Abraar Ayaz

Director | Solicitor
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Legal 500 - 2022

“…Director Abraar Ayaz is another key member of the practice.”

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Legal 500 - quote

‘Rising Star, Abraar Ayaz’

Abraar Ayaz is a Director at Advice Wise Solicitors having accepted the role from January 2020. He was offered the role by the Managing Director, Shahid Khan due to his commitment to the firm, steadfast dedication to his clients and the unwavering support he has provided to the Advice Wise team. He joined the firm in 2014 and has since gone from strength to strength.

Abraar graduated from the University of Westminster with LLB (Hons). He completed his Legal Practice Course at the University of Law with Distinction in 2014.

His dedication and commitment is evidenced by the fact that Abraar has been a Paralegal, a Trainee Solicitor, a Solicitor and now a Director at this Firm, all within a period of five years.

Abraar specialises in the field of criminal defence and has defended clients who face all sorts of allegations ranging from serious violence to frauds, organised crime and drug offences. Having been trained under the close guidance and supervision of Shahid Khan, he has quickly established a “can do” attitude and a strong work ethic, which affords his clients the assurances that they need.

Abraar is passionate about his work and therefore has not limited himself to a particular type of case. His meticulous eye for detail ensures that he is able to swiftly assess key evidence in a constructive and logical manner; both essential pre-requisites for cases which involve voluminous banking material, cell site data and other complex evidence. The faith and trust placed in him by his client’s and other professionals are testament to the rapport which he is able to build.

Abraar also works in the civil and family departments at the Firm, dealing with cases of significant complexity which are regularly allocated to the multi-track.

Abraar has assisted on a number of cases shown on Shahid Khan’s profile, but some of his other more recent notable cases are below:

Serious Fraud and Money Laundering
Serious Violence & Organised Crime
Serious Drugs Cases
Other Serious Matters
Serious Fraud and Money Laundering

R v VL and others (Southwark Crown Court) – A 9-hander relating to a fraud committed against various well established life insurance companies. The case centres around the fraudulent creation of insurance brokerages and the subsequent fraudulent policy applications to insurance providers, resulting in over £1 million of commission payments being paid out. The case involves just under 20,000 pages of evidence which includes extensive banking material. The case is being prosecuted by the Specialist Fraud Division of the Crown Prosecution Service. Such is the complexity of this matter that the Defendants have been split into two trials. 

R v SS and others (Canterbury Crown Court) – Currently representing a defendant in a multi-hander conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration to a member state. The case revolves around three individuals stopped from crossing the border at Dover as they were alleged to have had fake UK Passports. Following analysis by police of mobile phone data, searches were carried out at the Defendant’s home address which contained a number of electronic devices and physical evidence of the production of fraudulent passports. The case involves call data records, phone downloads and significant banking and ANPR evidence. 

R v GSM and others (Harrow Crown Court)Operation Encore; Assisting in the representation of a defendant said to be involved in a London based Organised Crime Gang (OCG). The case involves approximately 5 months of surveillance during which it is said the defendants had been engaged in the act of money laundering a significant amount of money, primarily received from the sale of drugs. The surveillance shows the movement of alleged money in and out of properties linked to the OCG. In total, approximately £906,205.00 in cash was seized.  

R v DP and another (Snaresbrook Crown Court) Representing one of two defendants alleged to have been involved in the fraudulent evasion of duty relating to chewing tobacco being brought into the country under the guise of other products. The case centres around two particular imports, namely 4.78 tons and 531kg, with the duty value being in excess of £600,000. The street value of the goods are likely to be in excess of £1 million. The case involves a cut throat defence with the co-defendant and a significant volume of telephone download material.

R v MRI and others (Blackfriars Crown Court) – Currently defending a chartered accountant in a case where it is alleged that a charity had been defrauded.

R v MLR and others (Kingston Crown Court) – Operation Slipstream; Assisted in the representation of the main defendant in a conspiracy involving 17 Defendants. It was said that our client was involved in the production and supply of fraudulent documents for use in fraud against the Home Office, the United States Embassy, to a bank for mortgage purposes and to various local councils. The case involved a large amount of evidence in the form of documentary evidence, telephone evidence and banking evidence. The case was being prosecuted by the International Justice and Organised Crime Division of the CPS and the complexity was such that the case had to be split into 4 different trials.

R v AK and another (Truro Crown Court)Representing a defendant indicted on counts of fraud and money laundering relating to romance fraud where it is alleged that our client, along with a number, defrauded a vulnerable victim out of her life savings over a significant period of time. The case however also centres around significant banking schedules which showed significant amount of money allegedly being laundered surrounding other banking frauds.

R v MR (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Operation Falcon; Represented a lead defendant in a six-handed conspiracy to defraud. The crux of the fraud was that our client and his co-defendants had been advertising as online motor insurance brokers via Instagram when he nor his co-defendants were registered brokers. It was alleged that a number of individuals were defrauded and that the money laundered was done via layers of bank accounts to conceal the funds.

R v SW and others (Isleworth Crown Court) – Defending in a multi-hander investigation into fraudulent activities said to have been committed by staff members, causing financial losses of approximately £250,000.00.

R v SA and others (Kingston Crown Court) – Operation Unabiding; A multi-handed conspiracy to defraud. It was alleged that the Defendant was involved in using stolen credit cards to defraud 19 different banking institutions. A total of 27 credits cards were compromised as a result of the criminal activity. The case consisted of over 80,000 pages of evidence, mainly telephone data which had to be meticulously reviewed in a short period of time. The case was being investigated by the Counter Terrorism Police.

R v AH and others (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Operation Orla; Represented the lead defendant in a multi-hander conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation by purporting to act as Insurance Brokers.

R v VG (Derby Crown Court) – Operation Bindaree; Assisted in the defence of an individual accused of money laundering nearly £100,000.00 where the total fraud against companies such as Airbus, Carlsberg, Sportswift and others amounted to almost £7.5million.

R v NA (Southwark Crown Court) – Operation Cudgegong; Conspiracy involving 9 Defendants who allegedly breached the UK Immigration rules. The case involved complex tracking of payments and amounted to over 25,000 pages of evidence.

R v AM and others (St Alban’s Crown Court) – Assisted in the representation of a defendant in a multi-handed conspiracy to defraud by pretending to be police officers.

R v IN (Guildford Crown Court) – Assisted in the defence of an accountant accused of abusing his position to commit fraud against a client to cause him loss.

R v NGG and another (Southwark Crown Court) – Represented the main defendant in relation to immigration offences where the defendant was accused of trying to bypass the Tier 1 scheme

Serious Violence & Organised Crime

R v AS (Birmingham Crown Court) – Assisting in the representation of a Defendant who is accused of the offence of Encouragement of Terrorism. This relates to tweets and messages sent from particular accounts allegedly linked to him during which it is suggested he is encouraging acts of terrorism to be carried out. It is alleged that there are 32,000 messages which have been investigated. The case is being prosecuted by a Specialist Prosecutor in the CPS Counter Terrorism Division.  

R v DB and another (Central Criminal Court)Operation Tielen; Murder and Attempted Murder. It is alleged that the Defendants, along with others who are yet to be identified, had driven to a location in East London where they have essentially carried out a drive by shooting, killing one male and injuring another. The car was then taken to a separate location and burnt. The defendant was identified via extensive CCTV but the case involves elements of forensic evidence, cell site, ANPR and evidence of potential drug dealing and drill music.

R v AK and another (Harrow Crown Court) – Representing the Defendant accused of Possession of a Firearm with Intent to Endanger Life. The case centres around an intelligence led operation in which a shortened shotgun, revolver, pistol and ammunition for these firearms were seized. 

R v CM and another (Blackfriars Crown Court) – Operation Newmills; Murder and Conspiracy to Rob. Various issues in the case arose in relation to the cause of death. This case involved the instruction of various experts by the defence including a pathologist, toxicologist, voice expert, scene of crime expert, telephone expert and cell site expert.

R v SF and others (Central Criminal Court) – Operation Pietown; An investigation into the murder of a male who died from several stab wounds. The case involved 4 defendants and voluminous evidence including cell site, lengthy CCTV evidence and previous gang history held by the police.

R v JD (Woolwich Crown Court) – This case involved an armed off-licence robbery in which the Defendant was alleged to have used an imitation firearm to rob. Following the incident, the police resorted to a wide ranging pro-active media appeal to locate the Defendant. After successful representations made, the Defendant pleaded guilty to lesser charges resulting in a sentence of just 12 weeks imprisonment which he had already served and therefore was released. The evidence consisted of CCTV footage of the incident which had to be diligently reviewed and the Defendant’s mental health was assessed following the Defence team identifying concerns not already before the Court.

R v KK (Harrow Crown Court) – The Defendant is charged with 8 counts of handling stolen goods relating to various stolen high-end vehicles including motorbikes. It is alleged the defendant was involved in the running of a “chop shop.”

R v SL (Central Criminal Court) – Operation Irmenu; Represented a defendant charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life in relation to a “shootout” that took place between two parties in a South London Street. The case involved cell site, DNA and ballistics evidence and involved the instruction of a firearm expert.

R v AM (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – A case involving False imprisonment, Blackmail and ABH of a male who was kept for a number of hours against his will. The case involved identification, telephone and voluminous CCTV evidence.

R v DD (Chelmsford Crown Court) – Represented a defendant accused of stabbing a person. The case involved careful analysis of CCTV evidence.

R v WJ and another (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Represented the defendant in a stabbing case where the victim had to be airlifted to hospital.

R v SPR and RD (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Represented both defendants where it was alleged that a shortened rifle was pointed at the complainant and threats to kill where made.

Serious Drugs Cases

R v NI (Swansea Crown Court) – Representing a defendant charged with Possession with Intent to Supply Class A drugs where there is an allegation of a county lines operation. 

R v HB and others (St Alban’s Crown Court) – Operation Mantis; Representing one of six defendants charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs in a County Line drug operation from London to Hertfordshire. The case involves evidence relating to two simultaneous drug lines for which the key evidence against the Defendants is extensive call data records/schedules. With regards to the Defendant, the defence relates to duress/modern slavery provisions which require careful analysis based on the evidence. The investigation was carried out by a dedicated team of police officers tackling county line drug operations, namely Operation Mantis.

R v SU (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Operation Sega; Represented one of the key defendants in relation to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. The case involved undercover police officers carrying out test purchases of drugs and significant amount of cell site data regarding the drug line phone.

R v MJ (Blackfriars Crown Court) – Currently representing the defendant in a case where he is alleged to have taken a quantity of drugs into prison.

R v IP (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Assisted in the defence of an individual accused of having approximately 50 wraps of cocaine in his underwear.

R v ED (Cambridge Crown Court) – Represented the defendant who was accused of possessing a quantity of class A drugs with intent to supply.

Other Serious Matters

R v MJ (St Albans Crown Court) – Representing the Defendant charged with 18 counts relating to historical sexual abuse of a minor, from some 10 years ago. This case is at the early stage of proceedings but there is likely to be a wealth of evidence and particular care to be taken around dealing with the victim.

R v MA (Snaresbrook Crown Court) – Representing the Defendant charged with 10 counts relating to historical sexual abuse of two male minors, from some 20 years ago. This case is made all the more complicated given that the Defendant himself may well have been a minor when some of the allegations were made. 

R v WY and others (Central Criminal Court) – Operation Effect; Investigation into human trafficking for sexual exploitation from China and Korea into and around the UK. A multi-hander conspiracy whereby the Defendant was charged in relation to controlling prostitution for gain and subsequent money laundering.

R v EG (Cambridge Crown Court) – Representation of a defendant accused of multiple non-residential burglaries, attempted burglaries, making off without payment and fraud offences. In total there were over 80 offences.

R v MS (Kingston Crown Court) – Defended a person of good character accused of three counts of ABH against his partner.

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