The Insolvency Service has reported that Stanislav Genadiev, an electrician, fraudulently used coronavirus (COVID-19) Bounce Back Loans (BBL) to pay off personal debts. The two loans were worth a combined amount of £100,000 and were supposed to be used solely for the benefit of his business. The money was also used to pay for personal items such as groceries and clothing. Genadiev has been ordered to pay £56,000 within three months or he faces a prison sentence of 18 months. The amount will still be payable regardless of whether he goes to prison for the offence.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Eunice Gill Dzodzome, the sole director of Reach Alive Limited, has breached the conditions of a government-backed loan that should have been used to support the business through the pandemic and not for personal use. When Reach Alive received a £45,000 Bounce Back Loan, Dzodzome transferred £40,000 into her personal account, which she then invested in cryptocurrency. Of the remaining loan, £2,000 was paid to Dzodzome as a director’s loan and £3,000 used as an advance payment towards her company’s liquidation. On 12 April 2022, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted an 11-year disqualification undertaking from Dzodzome.

The Insolvency Service has reported that restaurant owner, Illhan Kekec, fraudulently secured a £30,000 coronavirus (COVID-19) Bounce Back Loan (BBL) shortly before filing an application to dissolve his business without informing creditors. Kekec was handed a jail sentence of two-and-a-half years and disqualified as a company director for three years.

The Insolvency Service has announced that Vanguard Insolvency Practitioners Limited (a ‘volume’ Individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) provider that enabled people to pay all or part of their debts to creditors), MDN Consultancy Limited, Newtco Limited, and KIS Financial Consultancy Limited were wound-up in the public interest on 12 May 2022 at Manchester High Court. The Insolvency Service discovered that Vanguard’s licensed insolvency practitioner, responsible for overseeing Individual voluntary arrangements, did not properly explain to customers what their fees for facilitating their arrangements were being used for. Almost £9m from Vanguard’s customers’ estates was paid to MDN and KIS, who were connected to Vanguard through close personal or family relationships.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Adam Lennard, 58, has been sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 15 months after falsely applying for a coronavirus Bounce Back Loan (BBL) in 2020. Lennard has also been ordered to repay half of the loan (£10,000) within one week of appearing in court.

The Insolvency Service has reported that a fraudster, Salih Ozhot, has been sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years after using a government-backed Bounce Back Loan (BBL) for his own personal use. Ozhot will also have to repay the £50,000 loan he fraudulently obtained in full at a rate of £500 a month.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Gary Kelvin Link, 46, was sentenced to prison for ten weeks, suspended for 18 months after he was found to have breached the terms of his eight-year director disqualification by running a window-fitting company while banned following previous misconduct. Link was also fined £500 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs at Shrewsbury Crown Court on 13 December 2023.

The Insolvency Service has reported that finance companies, Satchi Holdings PLC and Hartreel Ltd have shut down after misleading people into investing a total of at least £3m in an unprotected bond scheme. Both the companies were wound up at the High Court of Justice on 30 January 2024 with Haston banned from running a business for 10 years since August 2023, following previous misconduct while running another business.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Your Home Care Services Ltd has been shut down after cold-calling vulnerable pensioners to sell them home maintenance plans they did not need. Furthermore, the company used a fictitious London address and failed to file company accounts. The company was wound up on 27 February 2024 following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The Insolvency Services reports on a Nottinghamshire construction boss who has been sentenced to two years and four months' imprisonment, for fraudulently removing £702,050 from four failing construction companies between 2014 and 2017. Wesley Grainger-Smith (whilst not an official director) exercised significant control over the companies and transferred the funds to his personal casino account, in violation of section 206 of the Insolvency Act 1986. Although approximately £570,000 was reportedly repaid through gambling winnings, the unauthorised use of company funds led to his bankruptcy in March 2017, a five-year directorship disqualification in July 2017, and a further ten-year ban in June 2019.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Adam Kirkbride, aged 32, a former property and construction businessman has been jailed for four years. Kirkbride abused his position while acting in the management of a company by siphoning off £60,000 that had been invested by a pensioner into his residential housing development company. Kirkbride pleaded guilty to fraud, disregarded a director disqualification and breached a bankruptcy order.

The Insolvency Service has reported the appointment of provisional liquidators to two connected corporate rescue companies, Atherton Corporate (UK) Ltd and Atherton Corporate Rescue Limited.