STORY
Peter Connelly, a composer who worked on the Tomb Raider video game series, has been jailed for defrauding the government’s Covid-19 Bounce Back Loan scheme. Connelly admitted to fraudulently obtaining more than £40,000 by falsely claiming that his business was eligible for financial support during the pandemic. The Insolvency Service investigated after it was discovered that the funds were not used for legitimate business purposes.
At sentencing, the court heard that Connelly had deliberately misled lenders to secure the loans and subsequently failed to make repayments. He was jailed for sixteen months and disqualified from acting as a company director for six years. The Bounce Back Loan scheme was introduced to support small businesses struggling due to Covid-19. Authorities have since taken action against hundreds of individuals who abused the taxpayer-funded programme.