Tag: Insolvency Service

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 22 April 2025.

Director banned following Insolvency Service investigation into sale of investment bonds.

• Guy Conroy was a director of Green IS Group Limited and GIS Forestry Limited, which offered customers the opportunity to invest in teak trees on plantations in Brazil
• Conroy allowed Green IS Group and GIS Forestry to mislead their customers, breaching contractual obligations in the process
• At least £8.525 million was owed to investors when the companies went into liquidation in March 2022

The director of two companies which claimed to run teak plantations in Brazil has been banned after investors lost more than £8.5 million.

Guy Conroy, 57, was the director of Green IS Group Limited and GIS Forestry Limited which offered customers the opportunity to invest in teak trees on its plantations.

Conroy allowed the companies to provide misleading information to customers telling them their investments were secured and there were safeguards to protect their money.

However, at least 250 investors were owed millions of pounds when the companies went into liquidation in 2022.

Conroy, of Upper Richmond Road, London, has been disqualified as a company director for 11 years.

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

Green IS Group and GIS Forestry traded in a manner which was completely unacceptable and not in the public interest.

Guy Conroy was a director of both these companies. He allowed them to mislead investors who lost out on millions of pounds as a result of his actions.

Conroy’s conduct is not what we would expect of company directors which is why we have taken steps to remove him from the corporate arena until March 2036.

Both Green IS Group and GIS Forestry generally sold bonds for £5,000 each with a fixed term between two and 10 years and interest rates of between 8% and 11%.

At the end of each bond’s term, they were to be redeemed by the companies, repaying the initial investment amount to the customer.

Customers thought they were buying rights to teak trees or saplings on plantations in Brazil, but the companies selling the bonds did not have the correct ownership rights.

No debenture over Green IS Group’s assets was ever registered at Companies House and security over GIS Forestry’s assets was only registered in October 2020 despite the company issuing bonds from December 2014.

Investors lost out on at least £8.525 million as a result of these investments.

The majority of investors were based in the UK and the largest claim from a creditor in the liquidation process was £636,000.

Both Green IS Group and GIS Forestry were placed into compulsory liquidation on the same day in March 2022 following winding-up petitions from creditors.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Conroy, and his ban started on Thursday 27 March 2025.

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

The liquidator has also obtained records and met with Conroy and the other directors in an attempt to identify and recover company assets.

Further information

• Guy Conroy is of Upper Richmond Road, London. His date of birth is 22 June 1967

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 17 April 2025.

Decade-long ban for director who abused Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

• Shkelzen Gashi overstated his Smart Tyres Services Ltd company’s turnover by almost double to secure a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, the most businesses were allowed under the scheme
• Smart Tyres was entitled to a loan of £33,600 but ended up with £50,000 because of Gashi’s false declaration
• Gashi has now been disqualified as a company director for a decade following Insolvency Service investigations

The owner of a North London tyre shop has been banned as a director for 10 years after overstating his company’s turnover to secure a maximum-value Covid loan.

Shkelzen Gashi ran Smart Tyres Services Ltd from his address on Harringay Road from 2015 to 2022.

The 53-year-old claimed his company’s turnover was £250,000 when he applied to the bank for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in 2020.

In reality, Smart Tyres had a turnover of little more than half that figure.

Gashi was banned as a company director until April 2035 and ordered to pay costs of £5,333 at a hearing of the High Court in Birmingham on Wednesday 2 April.

His ban started on Thursday 17 April.

Gashi has also repaid £8,000 of the Bounce Back Loan.

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

Shkelzen Gashi blatantly overstated the turnover of his company, ensuring it received significantly more in Covid support than it was entitled to.

Gashi was given numerous opportunities by our investigators to explain his actions but failed to do so.

This was taxpayers’ money and Gashi will now no longer be able to be involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for the next decade as a result of his dishonest conduct.

Smart Tyres was incorporated in May 2015 with Gashi as the sole director and shareholder.

Gashi described the company as providing a full range of both mechanical and electrical repairs.

Insolvency Service analysis of the Smart Tyres’ accounts revealed it had a turnover of £134,401 for the 2019 calendar year.

However, Gashi falsely declared on the application form that its income was a quarter of a million pounds.

Gashi received the £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in October 2020.

Smart Tyres ceased trading in August 2022 with liabilities of more than £100,000.

A tyre shop operates from the same address Smart Tyres traded from. Gashi is not a director of this company.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme helped small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000, at a low interest rate, guaranteed by the government.

The loans had to be repaid over six to 10 years, with payments starting one year after companies received the funds.

Further information

• Shkelzen Gashi is of Harringay Road, London. His date of birth is 7 January 1972

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

• Florin-Petrica Bodale was a building contractor and sole trader, operating in Harrow.
• He claimed his business had a turnover of more than £200,000 to claim the maximum Covid Bounce Back loan.
• He was sentenced to 13-months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, following a hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

A building contractor who fraudulently claimed a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back loan has received a 13-month suspended sentence.

Florin-Petrica Bodale operated as a building contractor offering plumbing, heating and air-conditioning installation and was based in Harrow, London.

In November 2020, the 34-year-old successfully applied to a bank for a Covid Bounce Back loan of £50,000.

But an Insolvency Service investigation found that he had falsely claimed the company’s turnover was £240,000 to receive the maximum loan available.

In reality, the turnover of the company was around £22,000 – meaning he was only entitled to £5,500.

On 10 April 2025, at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Bodale was sentenced to 13-months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, for one count of fraud by false representation.

He was also ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.

Insolvency Service Chief Investigator David Snasdell said:

Florin-Petrica Bodale falsely claimed a much higher turnover for his business and the reality of this is a notable sentence on top of his earlier disqualification as a director.

These loans were intended to help keep small businesses afloat, not to take money from the public purse that businesses were not entitled to.

We will continue in our efforts to bring those who abuse this scheme to justice.

In 2022, before the criminal investigation, Bodale signed a ten-year bankruptcy restriction undertaking which also included a ten-year director disqualification following a civil investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The court noted that he had repaid some money as part of the bankruptcy process.

Measures were introduced during 2020 to support businesses affected by COVID-19 such as loans, grants and tax allowances. The Bounce Back loan scheme helped small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000, at a low interest rate, guaranteed by the Government.

The Bounce Back loans were made on the condition that they were not to be used for personal purposes, but could be used, for example, to purchase a company asset such as a vehicle, if it would provide an economic benefit to the business.

Further information:

• Florin-Petrica Bodale’s last known address is Elmsleigh Avenue, Harrow. Date of birth: 26/06/1990

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

Bounce Back Loan fraudster transferred the funds to an offshore bank account and a family member.

• Taxi driver Murat Dogantekin secured two £50,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020 which he was not entitled to
• Dogantekin overstated his turnover by hundreds of thousands of pounds, fraudulently applied for two loans when businesses were only allowed one, used the funds for personal expenses and failed to make any repayments
• The 50-year-old was jailed for two years and seven months

A Devon taxi driver who fraudulently claimed two maximum-value Covid loans by overstating his annual turnover by more than £350,000 has been jailed.

Murat Dogantekin secured the Bounce Back Loans worth a combined £100,000 from two separate banks just months into the pandemic, when he was only actually entitled to just over £4,000 under the scheme.

He then transferred the funds to a close family member and offshore bank account.

The 50-year-old, of Mulligan Drive, Exeter, was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison when he appeared at Exeter Crown Court on Thursday 27 February.

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

Bounce Back Loans were created to support small and medium-sized businesses through the pandemic. They were not designed to be accessed by fraudsters and used as additional personal income paid for at the expense of taxpayers.

Murat Dogantekin completely disregarded almost all the rules of the scheme. He significantly overstated his turnover, subsequently receiving far more support than he should have done. He fraudulently obtained two loans when businesses were only entitled to a single loan.

To make matters worse, Dogantekin failed to use the money for the benefit of his business, concealing the true nature of his bank transactions with false references. He also did not pay a single penny back before he was declared bankrupt and failed to engage with our investigations.

Such a blatant and deliberate misuse of public funds will not be tolerated by the Insolvency Service and we will continue to take action against those who stole from the taxpayer during a national emergency.

Dogantekin secured two Bounce Back Loans worth £50,000 each from separate banks in May and June 2020.

In his applications, Dogantekin stated that his annual turnover was £200,000 and £205,000 for two separate self-employed taxi businesses, both in his own name, although he said the second traded as Ola Taxis.

He provided no evidence to support these claims and Insolvency Service investigators discovered that the second business was actually named after one of his clients. This was done in an attempt to distinguish it from his first business and make it appear that he was eligible for a second loan when he was not.

Dogantekin had declared earnings of just £16,500 for the tax year ending in April 2020, meaning he overstated his turnover by £388,500 in the combined applications.

Had he been honest about his income, he may have been entitled to one loan of just £4,125.

His dishonesty meant he received an additional £95,875 he did not deserve.

Within four days of receiving the first loan, Dogantekin transferred £49,500 of the £50,000 to a separate bank account. The transactions were marked as “shop purchase”.

The following day, £48,000 of that money was moved to an offshore bank account.

Dogantekin’s second loan remained in his business account for more than a month before the funds were paid out to a family member and his own personal account within a six-day period.

No repayments to the loans were made before Dogantekin was declared bankrupt in November 2021.

Dogantekin was interviewed by the Official Receiver Services at the Insolvency Service later that month and provided some limited documentation.

He then ignored 11 attempts to contact him and secure specific records during a six-month period.

Dogantekin also failed to attend an interview under caution.

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

Further information

• Murat Dogantekin is of Mulligan Drive, Exeter. His date of birth is 20 May 1974
• Sentenced for: Fraud by false representation, contrary to section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 and concealment of books and papers, contrary to section 355 of the Insolvency Act 1986

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 24 February 2025.

Bounce Back Loan fraudster handed suspended sentence and curfew

• Amraiz Mahmood secured more than £20,000 in Covid support funds by falsely declaring he had a turnover of £81,000 as a self-employed delivery driver and courier
• Mahmood spent the money on drugs and gambling and also used a separate non-Covid related loan for almost £40,000 worth of renovations to his home just before he filed for his own bankruptcy
• Insolvency Service investigations have resulted in Mahmood being given a suspended prison sentence and 12-month curfew

A delivery driver who spent Covid support funds he was not entitled to on drugs and gambling has been sentenced.

Amraiz Mahmood fraudulently secured a £20,250 Bounce Back Loan from his bank in 2020 by overstating his 2019 turnover by more than £65,000.

The 41-year-old then claimed to have assets of only £100 despite withdrawing almost £40,000 in cash for home improvements in the weeks before he filed for his own bankruptcy.

Mahmood, of Booker Lane, High Wycombe, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Friday 21 February.

He is also now subject to a 12-month daily curfew between 9pm and 7.45am which will be monitored with an electronic tag.

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

Amraiz Mahmood hugely inflated his turnover to secure taxpayers’ money he did not deserve. He then clearly failed to use the loan as it was intended.

Bounce Back Loans were designed to support small businesses through the pandemic. They were not intended to be used for personal gain and the Insolvency Service will not hesitate to take action when we identify such blatant abuse of the scheme.

Mahmood also concealed tens of thousands of pounds in assets from the Official Receiver when he was declared bankrupt.

Mahmood fraudulently applied for his Bounce Back Loan in May 2020, claiming his turnover as a self-employed courier and delivery driver was £81,000.

His self-assessment return for 2018-19 however showed an income of only £15,018.

Mahmood said that he spent the majority of the money he claimed on recreational drugs and gambling.

In May 2021, one year on from fraudulently securing the Bounce Back Loan, Mahmood applied for bankruptcy, stating he had assets of just £100 and liabilities of more than £200,000.

However, just one month before his bankruptcy, Mahmood had secured a non-Covid related loan from his bank worth £25,000 having also withdrawn £2,000 from his account in the days and weeks before.

He then withdrew a further £37,950 in cash across several transactions before being declared bankrupt.

Mahmood said he withdrew the money as he needed to make repairs to his home and he knew the assets would be frozen once the bankruptcy order was made.

Invoices for the house renovations were dated after Mahmood’s bankruptcy however, meaning he was in possession of the funds when he told the Official Receiver he only had £100 in assets.

Mahmood signed an eight-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking in March 2022, restricting him from being able to borrow more than £500 without disclosing his bankrupt status.

Efforts are now being made to recover the funds from Mahmood.

Further information

• Amraiz Mahmood is of Booker Lane, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. His date of birth is 10 April 1983
• Sentenced for: Fraud by false representation, contrary to sections 1 and 2 of the Fraud Act 2006; and concealment of assets within the 12 months preceding his bankruptcy application, contrary to section 354(1)(c) of the Insolvency Act 1986
• Read more about the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and the action the Insolvency Service can take if it finds misconduct
• Guidance on the main statutory consequences flowing from a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order or Undertaking
• 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 29 January 2025.

Director disqualified for Bounce Back Loan abuse.

• Azizullrahman Akbari overstated his company’s turnover when he applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan – the maximum amount businesses could receive under the scheme
• His New Watan Bakery Limited company did not have a turnover of more than £200,000 as he falsely claimed
• Akbari has been banned as a company director until January 2035 following investigations by the Insolvency Service

The former boss of a west London bakery who overstated his company’s turnover to secure a maximum-value Covid loan has been banned from acting as a director for 10 years.

Azizullrahman Akbari, 60, obtained a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan just weeks into the pandemic, claiming the turnover for his New Watan Bakery Limited company was more than £200,000.

In reality, the company, which ran the Watan Bakery on South Road in Southall, never had such a high turnover.

Elizabeth Pigney, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Azizullrahman Akbari exaggerated his company’s turnover to secure a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, the most businesses were entitled to under the rules of the scheme.

From our analysis of the accounts, the company did not deserve anywhere near this amount.

Tackling Bounce Back Loan misconduct remains a key priority for the Insolvency Service and we will continue to take action against directors like Akbari who made false declarations when applying for financial support from the government.

New Watan Bakery began trading in June 2016, with Akbari as its sole director.

Akbari, of The Broadway, Southall, applied for a Bounce Back Loan in May 2020, declaring his company had a turnover of £214,010.

Businesses established before the start of January 2019 could apply for a Bounce Back Loan of up to a quarter of their annual turnover, with a maximum amount of £50,000.

Insolvency Service analysis of the company’s accounts revealed a turnover of £62,584 for the period up until the end of June 2019.

For the period ending June 2020, the turnover was smaller at £52,370.

New Watan Bakery entered liquidation in July 2023 owing more than £53,000.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Akbari, and his ban started on Wednesday 29 January.

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

A separate company now runs the bakery. Akbari is not listed as a director of this company.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 17 January 2025.

Bankrupt ex-private hire driver exaggerated his turnover by more than £188,000 to falsely claim a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan.

• Huseyin Houssein gave false business information to claim the maximum Covid loan
• He overstated the turnover of his private hire business by more than 17 times to claim over £47,000 more than he was entitled to receive
• Houssein is now subject to 11 years of tough restrictions which include being prevented from acting as a company director without the court’s permission

A former London minicab driver is subject to 11 years of stringent sanctions after the Official Receiver found he abused the Covid loan scheme to claim over £47,000 more than his business was entitled to.

Huseyin Houssein, 55, a former private hire driver from Nash Road in Edmonton, North London, applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in August 2020.

He stated in the application that his business had a £200,000 turnover during the previous year, enabling him to claim the maximum loan of £50,000.

But Houssein was made bankrupt in February 2024 and the Official Receiver overseeing his bankruptcy discovered the actual turnover for the private hire business in the year ending 31 March 2020 had actually been £11,446. The amount he would actually have been entitled to was just £2,861.

Victoria Prime, Official Receiver at the Insolvency Service, said:

Huseyin Houssein used false information to claim money that was designed to support businesses through the pandemic.

He took more than £47,000 of taxpayers’ money that he was not entitled to.

The Insolvency Service takes the abuse of public money seriously and I’m pleased that these lengthy restrictions will help to protect the public from further financial harm.

The Official Receiver, who has a duty to investigate the cause of a bankruptcy, discovered that Houssein spent the £50,000 between October 2020, when the money arrived in the firm’s bank account, and May 2021. The money was not used to support his business.

Under the rules of the Bounce Back Loan scheme, businesses could claim up to 25% of their 2019 turnover, up to a maximum of £50,000.

Houssein signed a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking in which he did not dispute that he had given false information to claim a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan to which he was not fully entitled.

He also did not dispute that he had failed to use the money for the economic benefit of his business – a further breach of the loan scheme rules.

Houssein must abide by the restrictions, which extend the terms of his original bankruptcy – usually a 12-month period – for another 11 years.

They prevent him from acting as a company director without permission from the court, and from borrowing more than £500 without declaring that he is subject to the sanctions. The restrictions also prevent him holding certain roles in public organisations.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted the undertaking on 7 January 2025. The restrictions will run until 6 January 2036.

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 6 January 2025.

The £30,000 loan was used to pay-off personal debts.

• Restaurant owner Ilhan Kekec was jailed last year for fraudulently securing a Covid Bounce Back Loan and applying to dissolve his business without informing creditors
• The 36-year-old overstated his company’s turnover to obtain the £30,000 loan just months into the pandemic
• Kekec will now have to pay the funds back in full or have his prison sentence extended by 18 months

A fraudster jailed for illegally obtaining a Covid Bounce Back Loan has been ordered to pay the funds back in full with interest.

Restaurant owner Ilhan Kekec overstated his company’s turnover to secure a £30,000 loan in May 2020.

The 36-year-old was jailed for two-and-a-half years in March 2024 following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

Kekec, of Abbotts Drive, Waltham Abbey, Essex, was ordered to repay a total of £37,426 within three months at a confiscation hearing at the same court on Friday 20 December or face an additional 18 months in prison.

He will still have to repay the loan should his prison sentence be extended.

Kekec was also ordered to pay £15,900 in costs.

Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said:

Ilhan Kekec not only supplied false information to fraudulently acquire £30,000 in taxpayer funds at the start of the pandemic but then proceeded to use the loan to pay off personal debts.

This was not how the loans were supposed to be used and Kekec himself declared in his application that he would use the money for the economic benefit of his business.

Securing this confiscation order is important as it means Kekec must pay this money back in full or spend even longer in prison.

Kekec falsely claimed the turnover of his Hizirali Ltd business was £125,000 when making the application for a Bounce Back Loan in May 2020.

Hizirali was set up by Kekec to run the Derwish Kebab Restaurant inside the food court of the East Shopping Centre on Green Street in Forest Gate, London.

Kekec had traded for three years through another company, Helosh Limited, as the Derwish Restaurant on St Albans Road, Watford, before opening this second restaurant.

However, his new venture only traded for three weeks before the Covid lockdown, and he was unable to open during that period.

Kekec withdrew the Bounce Back Loan money in cash and later admitted to Insolvency Service investigators that he spent the funds on clearing personal debts.

He applied to dissolve his company in June 2020, claiming it was no longer economically viable for him to run the restaurant.

However, he deliberately failed in his statutory duty to inform his creditors within seven days of his voluntary strike-off application with Companies House.

Kekec was also banned as a company director for three years when he was sentenced for his offences earlier in the year.

Further information

• Ilhan Kekec is of Abbotts Drive, Waltham Abbey, Essex. His date of birth is 30 March 1988
• Sentenced for: Two counts of fraud by false representation, contrary to section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 and two counts of failure of notification of a voluntary strike-off application to creditors, within the seven-day statutory period contrary to section 1006(1) of the Companies Act 2006

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 11 September 2024.

The two loans, worth a combined £100,000, should only have been used for the benefit of his business.

• Stanislav Genadiev used the funds from two £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loans to pay off his own personal debts
• He also spent the money on items such as groceries and clothing
• Genadiev must pay back more than £56,000 in the next three months or go to jail for 18 months. He would still have to repay the money if he went to prison

An electrician who fraudulently claimed Covid Bounce Back Loans for his business and a separate perfume company must repay more than £56,000 or face jail after spending the cash on personal expenses and designer clothing.

Stanislav Genadiev submitted false statements to obtain the two loans worth a combined £100,000 in 2020.

Genadiev, of Faircross Avenue, Romford, was ordered to repay £56,948 at a confiscation hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday 9 September.

The 37-year-old would be sentenced to 18 months in prison if he failed to comply with the order.

Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said:

Stanislav Genadiev declared in applying for the two loans that he would use the funds for the economic benefit of his business.

Instead, he spent the money clearing his own personal debts, paying for everyday items such as groceries and even buying himself designer clothing.

This was not how the loans were supposed to be used and the Insolvency Service takes a zero-tolerance approach to those who so blatantly steal from the public purse.

During the course of our financial investigations, we uncovered assets worth almost £57,000 belonging to Genadiev, including 50% equity at his home address and land in Bulgaria. We will not hesitate to recover the remaining amount he fraudulently secured from the taxpayer if we believe he has assets that can satisfy the order.

Genadiev first applied for a £50,000 loan in July 2020, claiming his K and S Installation Ltd electrician business had a turnover of £200,000 in 2019.

Accounts for K and S seen by the Insolvency Service revealed the real turnover was closer to £85,000.

In a statement to investigators, Genadiev said he used the funds to pay off his personal debts which were unrelated to his business.

Money from the account was also used for groceries and clothing.

Genadiev made a second fraudulent £50,000 application in September 2020, this time claiming his G and S Perfumes Ltd business had an estimated turnover of £200,000.

The business, in fact, was not trading by March 2020.

Snaresbrook Crown Court gave Genadiev three months to pay the money or face 18 months in prison.

He would still owe the full amount ordered if he failed to comply and was sent to prison.

If Insolvency Service investigators uncover more assets Genadiev has or obtains in the future, he will have to pay the remaining amount he fraudulently secured.

Genadiev was also sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, for the offences when he appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in February this year. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. The sentences are separate to the subsequent confiscation order.

Further information

• Stanislav Genadiev is of Faircross Avenue, Collier Row, Romford. His date of birth is 23 February 1987
• Sentenced for: Two counts of fraud by false representation, contrary to section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006
• K and S Installation Ltd (company number 09149839)
• G and S Perfumes Ltd (company number 10365184)

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 23 August 2024.

Devon-based businessman is subject to 13 years of sanctions after abusing the Bounce Back Loan scheme five times during the Covid pandemic.

Matthew Littlechild claimed five separate £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for his businesses, including a Totnes pub

He overstated his turnover for each business to falsely claim a quarter of a million pounds from the scheme

Littlechild must now abide by 13 years of stringent bankruptcy restrictions which prevent him acting as a company director or borrowing more than £500 without declaring the sanctions against him

A businessman from Devon is subject to 13 years of bankruptcy restrictions after he falsely claimed Bounce Back Loans worth a total of £250,000 for five of his businesses.

Matthew Littlechild, 37, from Mount Pleasant Road in Newton Abbot, agreed to abide by the tough sanctions after the official receiver found he had overstated the turnover of five separate businesses to claim the maximum £50,000 Covid support loans for each one.

Samantha Crook, Deputy Official Receiver at the Insolvency Service, said:

Matthew Littlechild repeatedly took advantage of a scheme designed to help businesses in genuine need, and abused taxpayers’ money when the country was facing one of its toughest times.

We are pleased that these lengthy bankruptcy restrictions will help to protect the public from further financial harm.

Littlechild set up four of the businesses involved in the abuse of the scheme between April 2018 and November 2019.

They included the Matthew Littlechild Business Consultancy, an event catering business known as Pig Out, Treby Essentials home food delivery and the ML Properties cleaning business. Littlechild also began running a pub, the Sea Trout Inn in Staverton,Totnes, in November 2019.

Between May and June 2020 he applied for £50,000 Bounce Back Loans on behalf of all five businesses.

Under the rules of the scheme, businesses could borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 of government-backed loans, based on their 2019 turnover.

Littlechild received loans for his businesses worth £250,000, but later became bankrupt, in January 2024.

The official receiver investigating the cause of his bankruptcy discovered that the businessman had provided false information about the turnover of all five businesses, to claim the money.

Littlechild signed a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) which extends the restrictions imposed by his original bankruptcy until 20 August 2037.

The restrictions prevent him from acting as a company director without the court’s permission, and borrowing more than £500 without declaring he is subject to restrictions. He is also prevented from holding certain roles in public organisations.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking from Matthew Littlechild on 21 August 2024.

The Official Receiver continues to review potential asset realisations following the investigations.