A company director who has been banned from running the business fraudulently obtained £300,000 in Covid support loans and spent the money on family holidays, private school fees and personal purchases, the Daily Mail reported.Stephen Brooks, 40, was sentenced to three years in prison after taking out six bounce-back loans between May and October 2020 using his wife Rhea Brooks’ name without her knowledge.The court heard that Brooks had been banned from acting as a director of the company in 2010. Despite the ban, he applied for loans linked to five separate companies and falsely declared the size of their turnover in order to access the funds.Prosecutor Nick Bonhill said the loan applications were fraudulent and that Brooks dishonestly misrepresented the companies’ finances to secure government-backed support.Instead of using the money for legitimate business purposes, Brooks spent large sums of money on personal expenses. The money paid for family trips to Disneyland and Tenerife, around £7,000 in private school fees for his daughter at an independent school in Devon, and a new Audi for his wife.The court also heard he spent the money on flowers, paint for a rental property, and purchases from the Boux Avenue retail store.Judge Nathaniel Rudolph said there was “little room for mercy” in the case, describing Brooks’ actions as “completely dishonest”.
According to the Insolvency Service, as reported by the newspaper, less than £7,500 of the £300,000 taken through the fraudulent loans has been repaid.The Bounce Back Loan scheme was introduced during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to help businesses affected by lockdown restrictions and economic disruption.
