Mr Crisp travelled the world selling high-end perfume, regularly rubbing shoulders with celebrities and VIPs, who were unaware of his activities in Russia.
But when he started chatting to a friendly American in the lift of a luxury hotel in Dallas in July last year, he had no idea he was actually speaking to a private investigator.
Posing as a Las Vegas businessman, the agent said he was interested in stocking Mr Crisp’s perfumes. They later met in Crisp’s hotel room to smell the fragrances - where the investigator secretly filmed the conversation.
“How’s your Russian market?” the investigator asked. “Don’t tell anyone.” Mr Crisp replied, “We’re doing really well… we ignore government edicts.”
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UK government introduced sanctions banning trade with Russia in several areas - perfumes are specifically named. Breaching these regulations is a serious offence, with a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Following the introduction of sanctions, Mr Crisp had agreed with his then-business partner, David Garofalo, to cease trading with Russia. But Mr Garofalo later became suspicious after a whistleblower claimed that Crisp continued to sell perfume in Moscow. Mr Garofalo then hired the private investigators.
The undercover footage is “sickening” David Garofalo told me as we watch the footage together, adding “he knows that he’s violating the sanctions”.
