Former Premiership footballer faces jail over £400,000 money laundering handover

A former Scottish professional footballer is facing jail after being caught carrying out a £400,000 money laundering handover.

James Keatings, 33, transported heavy boxes of crime cash in a white Transit van and told police he had been working as a plasterer.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Keatings – once on the books as a forward for clubs including Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, St Johnstone and Dundee United – was arrested earlier this year following a tip off last year to the National Crime Agency about a large dirty cash handover due to take place in a street in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.

Hibernian XI's James Keatings during a David Gray Testimonial match between Hibernian and Manchester United Select at Easter Road, on October 15, 2023. — Hibernian XI’s James Keatings during a David Gray Testimonial match between Hibernian and Manchester United Select at Easter Road, on October 15, 2023. SNS Group

Prosecutor Alistair McDermid said police and officers from the NCA laid wait on Young Street, Wishaw on June 28 last year. A white Mercedes van arrived and parked. The driver of that van was alone.

A few minutes later Keatings appeared driving a white Ford Transit and parked next to the Mercedes.

Keatings then “got out and removed two weighty boxes from his van and put them in the rear of the Mercedes”.

Both vans then drove away. The Mercedes, driven by the other man, was then seen to park on Station Road in Dollar, Clackmannanshire. The Mercedes driver got out and went into a house.

“He then left again, got into a third van, this time a black Mercedes, which he drove to High Street, Glasgow, where a woman got in.

Mr McDermid said the woman was carrying “a weighty polythene bag”. The van then drove back to Station Road, Dollar where the driver was arrested.

The key to the white Mercedes was in his pocket and it was searched. Inside the white Mercedes van, officers found two office boxes containing 78 bundles of notes, each of about £5,000 – in total £390,040.

Also in the boxes were a quantity of elastic bands, which turned out to have Keatings’ DNA on them.

Keatings’ finger and palm prints were found in various locations on the outside of both boxes and on the inside of the second box. His fingerprints were also on some of the banknotes.

Keatings, of Wishaw, pleaded guilty to possessing and transferring criminal property – namely the £390,040 in cash – an offence of money laundering.

Solicitor Brien Grieg, defending, said Keatings was a first offender, a father, and “a working man”.

He said: “He understands custody will be at the forefront of the court’s consideration.”

Sheriff Maryam Labaki deferred sentence until September 19 for background reports.

She continued Keatings’ bail, but warned him: “This is a very significant sum, and it’s an insidious crime in many ways.

“You must prepare yourself for every eventuality. You have crossed the custody threshold.”