Tag: Insolvency Service

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 16 May 2025.

Four illegal workers were discovered by Immigration Enforcement officers.

• Vittorio Dragoti employed four illegal workers from Romania at his Fiveways Car Wash in Suffolk
• The workers were found with no right to work in the UK by Immigration Enforcement last year
• Dragoti has been banned as a company director until May 2032

The owner of a Suffolk hand car wash has been banned as a company director for seven years after employing four illegal workers.

Vittorio Dragoti, 28, hired the workers from Romania at the Fiveways Car Wash on the Fiveways Roundabout near Barton Mills.

The workers were discovered when Immigration Enforcement officials visited the car wash in 2024.

Dave Magrath, Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services at the Insolvency Service, said:

Company directors have clear statutory obligations to recruit people who have the right to work in the UK.

Consumers deserve to have confidence that workers providing services to them are not working illegally. And the workers themselves deserve to not be put in such a vulnerable position by people who may exploit their immigration status.

Vittorio Dragoti’s disqualification as a company director is a result of ongoing close collaboration between the Insolvency Service and our partners at the Home Office to clamp down on rogue directors.

Dragoti, of Queensway, Mildenhall, was the sole director of Vito’s Car Care Limited since March 2019.

Immigration Enforcement officials found the four Romanian men aged between 18 and 49 with no right to work in the UK when they visited the car wash in April last year.

Vito’s Car Care was fined £180,000 for the immigration breach. The fine currently remains unpaid.

Cheryl Daldry, the Home Office’s East of England Immigration Compliance and Enforcement lead, said:

This is a great example of the serious consequences that are in store for business owners who fail to carry out checks on individuals they hire to ensure they have the right to work in the UK.

Dragoti flouted our employment and immigration rules by employing multiple people with no right to work in the UK, resulting in long term enforcement action against himself and his business.

“I would like to thank our partners at the Insolvency Service for their help to secure these sanctions against this non-compliant employer.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Dragoti, and his seven-year ban began on Thursday 15 May.

The disqualification prevents him from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court. It does not impact any businesses with similar names or locations.

Further information

• Vittorio Dragoti is of Queensway, Mildenhall, Suffolk. His date of birth is 25 August 1996

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 15 May 2025.

Today the Department for Business and Trade has announced its intention to conclude its contract with the National Investigation Service (NATIS) and transfer existing casework, relating to COVID-19 Bounce Back Loan fraud, to the Insolvency Service.

In response, Alec Pybus, Interim Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service said:

We welcome this decision by the Department of Business and Trade.

The Insolvency Service is well placed to take on these investigations as part of our ongoing and successful work tackling fraudulent use of COVID-19 loans.

We are working with our colleagues at the Department of Business and Trade and at Thurrock Council to deliver a smooth and swift transition of ongoing cases, and any potential transfer of staff.

To date, the Insolvency Service has obtained disqualifications against 2,167 directors, bankruptcy restrictions against 343 individuals and 62 successful criminal convictions in respect of COVID-19 financial support scheme misconduct.

The Agency has also helped to secure more than £6 million in compensation related to COVID-19 financial support scheme abuse.

The Agency already has plans to deliver further enforcement outcomes and financial recoveries in 2025/26, and will now work at pace to take on viable casework from NATIS in support of the UK Government’s drive to hold to account those who fraudulently claimed support during the pandemic.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 12 May 2025.

Renugen Limited, based in Kent, was subject to a winding up order following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

• Renugen Limited sold renewable energy products including solar panels and wind turbines
• An Insolvency Service investigation found orders had not been delivered and some customers had yet to receive refunds
• The company was subject to a winding up order at the High Court in London on 8 May 2025

A renewable energy company, based in Kent, has been shut down after an Insolvency Service investigation found it had failed to deliver orders and not refunded some customers for undelivered products.

Renugen Limited, last registered in Canterbury, sold renewable energy products online – from £50 batteries to £350,000 wind turbines.

The Insolvency Service identified 34 customers who had paid £74,570 for products that were not delivered. Investigators found only £15,265 has been refunded to the customers.

Some customers were unable to contact the company and had taken legal action through the county courts to claim refunds.

The company was subject to a winding up order, following a trial from 7 to 8 May 2025 in the High Court, London.

Mark George, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

There was clear evidence in this case that Renugen Limited was not acting as a reputable business.

We saw a pattern of undelivered products and a lack of refunds to customers, as well as little or no communication with online buyers and evidence of recent trading.

As such, we believe it was in the best interest of the public to shut down this company and ensure any future potential customers don’t suffer the same outcome.

Renugen Limited filed accounts suggesting that there had been no trading between 2021 and 2023.

However, the company had continued trading during this time including having an active website. Recent complaints from customers about their orders on Trustpilot were also discovered by investigators.

Additionally, investigators found that the company had six business accounts, and at least two had been closed due to what the banks stated were complaints of scams relating to undelivered products.

The Insolvency Service also found that the company made 38 crypto asset transactions – unrelated to renewable energy products – from their business accounts, totalling more than £48,000 for which no explanation was provided during the investigation.

Renugen Limited had registered a number of addresses for the company since its incorporation in 2010. The last registered address was in Canterbury. The investigation found they had previously been registered in Herne Bay, Kent but had failed to inform Companies House of any change of registered office after the facility was closed. The registered office address was only updated at Companies House after the issue of the Secretary of State’s petition.

The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of Renugen Limited.

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to the Official Receiver of Public Interest Unit: PO Box 16664, Birmingham, B2 2JQ. piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk.

Further information

• Renugen Limited (Companies House number: 07118020)
• The Insolvency Service can investigate complaints about corporate abuse by live companies. This may include serious misconduct, fraud, scams or dishonest practice in the way the company operates. Further information on our live investigations can be found here
• Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 2 May 2025.

Suspended sentence for former St Helens pub owner.

• Gary Wright was the owner of the Talbot Ale House in St Helens before it ceased trading in 2019, prior to the pandemic
• Wright was subsequently declared bankrupt in early 2020
• This did not stop him applying for a £25,000 Bounce Back Loan on behalf of the pub, failing to tell the bank he was bankrupt in the process
• The loan was repaid in full earlier this year

A former St Helens pub owner who failed to disclose his bankruptcy when he applied for Covid support funds has been handed a suspended sentence.

Gary Wright did not inform the bank that he was bankrupt when he obtained a £25,000 Bounce Back Loan in the summer of 2020.

The 46-year-old made the application on behalf of the Talbot Ale House on Duke Street in St Helens town centre, the pub he ran before his bankruptcy earlier that year.

Wright, of Bleak Hill Road, St Helens, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday 24 April.

He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,500 in costs.

The Bounce Back Loan was repaid in full shortly before Wright was sentenced.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Gary Wright incurred significant debts after his business failed and he was ultimately declared bankrupt.

He then attempted to take advantage of a scheme which was backed by taxpayers and designed to support viable small businesses through the pandemic.

Bankrupts are legally required to declare their status when applying for loans or credit. Wright clearly failed to do this which is why he now has a criminal conviction.

Talbot Ale House ceased trading in September 2019 and Wright was declared bankrupt in February 2020 due to debts owed to a major utility company.

Despite this, Wright applied for a £25,000 Bounce Back Loan in June 2020, claiming the turnover of the pub was £400,000.

Wright remains an undischarged bankrupt, meaning he has not been officially released from his bankruptcy.

Individuals subject to a bankruptcy order must disclose their status if they borrow or obtain credit of £500 or more.

A pub continues to run from the same address but under different management.

Further information

• Gary Wright is of Bleak Hill Road, St Helens. His date of birth is 15 December 1978

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 30 April 2025.

Wholesaler accused of falsely inflating company credit rating and failing to pay for goods and services purchased on credit.

• Investigators feared SAK Wholesale Limited in Birmingham had become a ‘vehicle for fraud’
• They were unable to trace where funds for more than £2.5 million of payments came from
• Accounts were falsely inflated to boost company credit rating – then management disappeared, leaving creditors out of pocket

A Birmingham-based wholesaler has been shut down amid concerns it was a ‘vehicle for fraud’.

SAK Wholesale Limited, based on the Alexandra Trading Estate in Handsworth, was wound up at a hearing at the High Court in Manchester on Tuesday 29 April.

The court was told there were concerns about the accuracy of the company’s annual accounts and that profits may have been overstated, enabling the directors to apply for thousands of pounds of goods and services on credit which were never paid for.

The directors failed to co-operate with Insolvency Service investigators, who discovered the company’s registered office in Handsworth had been stripped and abandoned, despite its website still being operational.

David Hope, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “There are serious concerns about SAK Wholesale being used as a vehicle for fraud.

The company has seemingly been abandoned – but still owes over £270,000 to its creditors. Despite this, payments of over £2.5million were made from the company over a period of two months in 2022, but without proper records, we were unable to confirm where this money came from.

Accounts were not submitted for the last financial year, and the veracity of accounts submitted in previous years is in doubt.

Despite the directors of SAK Wholesale refusing to cooperate with our investigation, the records we uncovered showed the company operated with a real lack of transparency and had a history of improper behaviour.

This winding-up order will help protect the public and business community by ensuring SAK Wholesale can’t be used for future trading.

Investigators from the Insolvency Service found the company had used its good credit rating to secure thousands of pounds of goods and services from suppliers.

Investigators also discovered that wording on the company’s website had been lifted directly from a local competitor’s website.

A lack of banking records for SAK meant investigators were unable to identify legitimate trading, customers or company expenditure – with £2.5m of payments made from a company account between April and June 2022 essentially unaccounted for.

Alongside this, one of SAK’s company accounts received an unauthorised third-party payment of £200,000 which SAK was not entitled to. This transaction was refunded by the bank when the third party discovered the money had left its account.

The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of SAK Wholesale Limited.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 30 April 2025.

The Insolvency Service investigated complaints made to Action Fraud from people in Estonia, Mauritania, Iran, New Zealand, Poland and Romania.

• BTCMining Limited operated a cryptoasset mining business, but customers say they took payments for services they did not receive.
• Insolvency Service investigation was the result of complaints made to Action Fraud from people as far away as New Zealand.
• The company was subject to a winding up hearing at the High Court in Manchester on 29 April 2025.

A cryptoasset business registered in the UK has been shut down after people from multiple countries said they paid for crypto mining services but did not receive the promised financial returns and were unable to withdraw their assets.

BTCMining Limited claimed to operate a cryptoasset mining business, where customers would pay the company to mine crypto and receive any resulting income.

However, Action Fraud received complaints from people in Estonia, Mauritania, Iran, New Zealand, Poland and Romania claiming they did not receive the ‘mining’ service or their assets and had been subject to further payment demands.

The investigation also found that the company did not have a legitimate registered address anywhere in the UK.

BTCMining Limited was shut down following a hearing at the High Court in Manchester on 28 April 2025.

Insolvency Service Chief Investigator, David Usher said:

The fact that BTCMining Limited was attracting customers globally makes our intervention particularly important.

We acted on the complaints before their reach could have affected countless more individuals.

It’s vital that the public, both here in the UK and abroad, are protected from companies acting in this way.

Investigators were unable to reach BTCMining Limited using known email addresses and telephone numbers, and websites linked to the company were either inactive or gave no new contact details.

BTCMining Limited’s director, Stibich Martins Yhaicha Luzia, was the sole director of the company since its incorporation in January 2024, and payment for the company’s registration came from an account in China.

The 25-year-old, who is believed to be from Germany, could not be contacted by the Insolvency Service and did not cooperate with the investigation.

His contact address recorded at Companies House was also a residential address, whose occupiers had no knowledge of BTCMining Limited and had not given their permission to use it.

A review of the six complaints lodged with Action Fraud indicated that customers collectively lost more than £15,000 although investigators fear the actual amount could be much higher.

BTCMining Limited is not linked to any other company with a similar name or trading style.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 29 April 2025.

Construction director previously disqualified as a director signs compensation agreement.

• Ioan Marcu overstated his company’s turnover to receive £50,000 in Bounce Back Loan funds when he was only entitled to little more than £11,000
• Marcu was handed a decade-long director ban for his misconduct following Insolvency Service investigations
• The 38-year-old has now signed a formal document in which he agrees to repay the money he secured

A builder who was disqualified as a company director for Covid loan abuse has now agreed to repay all the money the company was not entitled to claim.

Ioan Marcu inflated his Imbusi Ltd company’s turnover to receive a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in 2020, the maximum allowed under the scheme.

Marcu was disqualified as a director for 10 years in January 2025 following Insolvency Service investigations.

The 38-year-old, of Lindfield Road, Romford, has now signed an agreement committing him to repay more than £38,000 – the total amount the company should never have received.

Ann Oliver, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Ioan Marcu significantly overstated his company’s turnover in order to receive the maximum amount of money businesses were entitled to under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

This was clearly an inaccurate declaration which has resulted in him being banned as a director until the start of 2035.

Marcu has now signed a compensation undertaking which legally requires him to pay back all the public money the company should never have received in the first place.

Imbusi was incorporated in August 2014 with Marcu as its sole director.

Marcu applied to the bank for the £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in July 2020, claiming Imbusi’s turnover was £280,000 – an over-estimate of more than £230,000.

Insolvency Service analysis of Imbusi’s accounts revealed the company was only entitled to a loan of £11,451.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a compensation undertaking from Marcu on Thursday 24 April, in which he has agreed to repay £38,549 in monthly instalments.

His disqualification undertaking prevents him from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Imbusi went into liquidation in July 2022 with liabilities of more than £63,000.

Further information

• Ioan Marcu is of Lindfield Road, Romford. His date of birth is 6 January 1987

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 28 April 2025.

Bounce Back Loan fraudster convicted after Insolvency Service investigations.

• Ricky Harrison fraudulently obtained four Covid Bounce Back Loans, including three for dormant companies
• Money from the loans was used by Harrison for his own personal benefit and he attempted to avoid having to make any repayments by applying to have all four of his companies struck-off the Companies House register
• Harrison has been sentenced to more than three years in prison following Insolvency Service investigations into his conduct

A director who secured maximum-value Covid loans for three dormant companies and overstated his turnover to secure a fourth during the pandemic has been jailed.

Ricky Harrison received a total of £200,000 in Bounce Back Loans during 2020, when he was entitled to just £16,000 at most. He also spent the money for personal purposes, not for business use as was required.

Three of his companies, Hackney Works Ltd, Tower Hamlets Works Ltd and Ricky Harrison Holdings Ltd, were not trading at the time he made his fraudulent applications to the bank.

The 41-year-old also exaggerated his turnover by more than £150,000 for a fourth company, Newham Works Ltd.

Harrison, of Beacon Court, Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison when he appeared at St Albans Crown Court on Friday 25 April.

He was also disqualified as a director for 10 years.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Ricky Harrison’s actions were deeply cynical. He exploited an opportunity to help himself to taxpayers’ money during what was a national emergency.

Harrison did not co-operate with Insolvency Service investigations, failing to attend a pre-arranged interview and instead producing a typed statement where he implausibly claimed he was entitled to all the loans and was at liberty to spend the funds as he saw fit.

The reality is that Harrison was not entitled to the vast majority of the money he received and was required to spend the funds for the economic benefit of his business.

This was public money and we will continue to prosecute those who made such obvious false representations to secure Covid support.

Harrison’s four companies were incorporated within a three-week period in December 2018 and January 2019.

Hackney Works, Tower Hamlets Works, and Newham Works were all described on Companies House as providing “educational support services”. Ricky Harrison Holdings was described as a holding company.

Only Newham Works appeared to have any trading income in 2019.

Harrison himself admitted to an accountant that Hackney Works and Tower Hamlets Works were dormant and that there was no need to prepare any accounts for them.

Analysis of the accounts of Ricky Harrison Holdings revealed no evidence that the company had begun trading in its own right.

Despite this, Harrison falsely declared the companies had an annual turnover of £245,000, £232,000, and £315,000 respectively when he made the applications for three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans across a two-day period in May 2020.

At the same time, Harrison made a fraudulent application for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan for Newham Works. He declared on the application form that the company’s turnover was £215,000 when it was actually only £64,000.

Harrison transferred some of the money he received to his other companies, including Newham Works, and paid a percentage into his own personal account.

A total of £85,000 also appeared to be used for the purchase of a vehicle in June 2020.

Harrison told the bank he would repay the funds, as was required under the terms of the scheme.

However, in July 2020, just weeks after securing the loans, Harrison applied to have Hackney Works and Tower Hamlets Works struck-off the Companies House register.

Harrison subsequently attempted to strike-off Ricky Harrison Holdings and Newham Works in 2021 but was unsuccessful.

No loan repayments were made by Harrison aside from a single payment of £833.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 28 April 2025.

Bounce Back Loan fraudster convicted following Insolvency Service investigations.

• William Blenkarn claimed he did not know he was not entitled to a second Bounce Back Loan for MJB Events Limited
• Blenkarn obtained double the amount of Covid support his company was entitled to as a result of his fraudulent declaration
• Money from the loan was then transferred to a new company Blenkarn had set up just weeks into the pandemic

The owner of two Buckinghamshire-based events companies has been handed a suspended sentence after receiving £100,000 in Covid support funds when he was only entitled to half that figure.

William Blenkarn secured two Bounce Back Loans worth £50,000 each for his MJB Events Limited company, breaking the rules of the scheme which specifically stated that businesses could only have a single loan.

The 48-year-old then transferred £41,000 from the company’s bank account to his second business – MJB Entertainment Group Ltd – which had only been set up weeks before his fraudulent application.

Blenkarn, formerly of London End, Beaconsfield, but now living in Spain, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, at Aylesbury Crown Court on Thursday 24 April.

He was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

William Blenkarn’s company received double the amount of public money it deserved due to his false declaration when applying for a second Bounce Back Loan.

This was taxpayers’ money and Blenkarn made matters worse by moving a significant proportion of the loan over to his new company which had only been trading for a few months.

MJB Events was incorporated in January 2016 and was described as an events company. MJB Entertainment Group was set up in early April 2020.

Blenkarn told the Insolvency Service that MJB Entertainment Group was created to manage and book artists but developed into organising a range of charity events.

The company also described itself as providing additional services such as marquee design and wedding planning.

Blenkarn applied to two different banks for £50,000 Bounce Back Loans – the maximum allowed under the scheme – on behalf of MJB Events in May 2020.

For his second application, Blenkarn ticked the online declaration to certify that this was the only application made on behalf of the business.

Despite this, Blenkarn claimed he did not know that he could only apply for one loan for each company.

Two payments of £25,000 and £16,000 were then made to MJB Entertainment Group from the bank account belonging to MJB Events in July 2020.

These transactions left the MJB Events account overdrawn by around £25,000 at the time liquidators were appointed in June 2021, depriving creditors of the funds.

Blenkarn also breached his duties as a director by failing to deliver accounting records for MJB Events to the liquidator as he was required to do by law.

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Further information

• William Blenkarn is formerly of London End, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. His date of birth is 23 July 1976
• MJB Events Limited (company number 09977529)
• MJB Entertainment Group Ltd (company number 12552117)

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 23 April 2025.

The company substantially under-declared the amount of tax it had to pay in 2020 and 2021.

• • • Hubert Omukhulu failed to declare the correct amount of VAT his Remedy Payroll Solutions Ltd company was required to pay
    • VAT returns submitted by the company in a 15-month period between June 2020 and September 2021 suggested it had little more than £250,000 to pay
    • In reality, the company owed more than £2.5 million in tax

The boss of an umbrella company which failed to pay more than £2.5 million in VAT has been banned as a director.

Hubert Omukhulu, 36, failed to accurately declare the amount of VAT Remedy Payroll Solutions Ltd had to pay in 2020 and 2021.

The inaccurate returns Remedy Payroll Solutions submitted suggested the company had no VAT to pay in 2020 and just over a quarter of a million pounds in 2021.

However, this was an under-declaration of more than £2 million according to calculations from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Omukhulu, of Nethershire Lane, Sheffield, has now been disqualified as a company director for eight years.

Kevin Read, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Hubert Omukhulu allowed his payroll supply company to substantially under-declare the amount of VAT it owed in 2020 and 2021.

More than £2 million in VAT was not paid by the company. This money should have gone towards funding vital public services such as the NHS, schools and our nation’s defence.

Omukhulu’s conduct falls well below the standards the Insolvency Service expects which is why he has been banned as a company director until 2033.

Debbie Porter, Assistant Director of Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said:

We are determined to create a level playing field that allows honest businesses to thrive which is why it’s crucial we work closely with the Insolvency Service and other partners to act against rogue directors.

The majority pay the tax that is due, but we will pursue those who refuse to play by the rules.

Remedy Payroll Solutions was established in May 2020 with Omukhulu as its sole director.

The company initially had its registered office as Omukhulu’s home address in Sheffield before switching it on several occasions between addresses in Romford and Hainault.

Remedy Payroll Solutions submitted three VAT returns in 2020 claiming it had no tax to pay in that year.

The company submitted another three returns in 2021, claiming it had a combined £264,276 to pay in VAT.

HMRC investigated Remedy Payroll Solutions’ bank accounts and contacted its customers. Through their investigations, they calculated that £2,584,044 was owed by the company in VAT.

Remedy Payroll Solutions went into liquidation in July 2022.

Omukhulu claimed there was third-party involvement in the running of Remedy Payroll Solutions but failed to provide any evidence of this when asked by the Insolvency Service.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Omukhulu and his ban started on Thursday 17 April.

The undertaking prevents him from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Further information

• • Hubert Omukhulu is of Nethershire Lane, Sheffield. His date of birth is 16 December 1988