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Steven Brookes fraudulently claimed six Covid business loans worth £300,000 by making applications in his wife’s name and inflating turnover figures
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Brookes spent significant sums on a Disneyland trip, private school fees, an Audi, personalised number plates and a family holiday to Tenerife
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The 40-year-old had been banned as a company director since 2010 and used his wife’s name on the applications to conceal his involvement throughout the entire period of the fraud
A banned company director who spent £300,000 of Covid support on family holidays, private school fees, and other personal spending has been jailed.
Steven Brookes used funds from six fraudulently obtained Bounce Back Loans to pay for a trip to Disneyland, a holiday rental in Tenerife, and an Audi with personalised number plates for his wife.
The 40-year-old also paid £7,000 in fees for his daughter to attend an independent day and boarding school in Devon.
Bounce Back Loans were meant to provide economic benefit to his five businesses during the pandemic, but Brookes treated them as a personal fund, spending sums at florists, lingerie retailers and on paint to decorate his rental property.
Multiple transfers were also made into the joint expenses account Brookes held with his wife.
Brookes applied for the loans in his wife’s name, without her knowledge, and opened company bank accounts in her name to receive the funds.
He also inflated or fabricated the turnover figures used to support the applications and made a second loan application for the same company when he was only entitled to one.
All of the applications were made while Brookes was disqualified as a company director, using his wife’s identity to conceal his involvement.
Brookes, of Victoria Road, Bude, Cornwall, was jailed for three years and banned as a director for 10 years when he appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday 18 June, with the judge describing his actions as ‘calculated and greedy’.
He had pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud and acting as a director while disqualified at the same court last November.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said
Steven Brookes cynically hid behind his wife’s identity to steal £300,000 in Covid support funds.
Bounce Back Loans were not a personal bank account for company directors to use on paying for holidays, school fees and other luxury items. Brookes broke almost every rule going. He submitted false turnover figures, secured two loans when companies were only allowed one, and criminally misused the funds.
He did all this while ignoring a director ban which had been in place for a decade at the time of his fraudulent actions.
The Insolvency Service has relentlessly pursued Covid fraudsters since the pandemic. We are equally determined to enforce director bans – and hold those who wilfully break them to account.
Brookes made six Bounce Back Loan applications across five companies between May and October 2020. In each case, he made the application in his wife’s name without her knowledge, having been disqualified as a company director for 11 years in April 2010 following a conviction for stealing mobile phones.
His first application was for a £50,000 loan for Blind Pig Media Limited. Brookes declared the company’s turnover as £218,865 to obtain the maximum amount when its actual turnover was £119,215.
Funds from the loan were used for personal spending, including the Disneyland trip and school fees.
Just weeks later, Brookes applied for a second £50,000 loan for the same company. Businesses were only entitled to one Bounce Back Loan each. He falsely declared this was his first application.
Money from this loan was spent at a florist, at lingerie retailer Boux Avenue, and transferred into the couple’s joint expenses account.
Brookes’ third fraudulent application in September 2020 was for another £50,000 loan, this time for BPG Management Limited.
In the application, Brookes declared a turnover of £450,000. The company had never traded and had no accounts.
The full £50,000 was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited, where it was used for personal spending including a £7,800 Audi bought for his wife, personalised number plates costing over £4,700, £1,200 spent on paint to decorate his rental property, and a further £1,000 transferred to the couple’s joint expenses account.
Later that month, Brookes secured a £50,000 loan for Brookes Consultancy Limited, declaring a turnover of £350,000. Again, the company had never traded and had no accounts. The full loan was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited.
Brookes made a fifth application for The Pig Box Limited, declaring a turnover of £750,000 despite the company again never having traded.
The full £50,000 was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited and used for personal spending, including £640 at luxury retailer Jo Malone and £1,000 paid to his wife’s business.
Brookes’ final fraudulent application came in October 2020. He obtained a £50,000 loan for The Blind Pig Group Limited, this time declaring a turnover of £800,000.
In a repeat of some of his previous applications, the company had never traded and the full loan amount was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited.
Money was again used for personal spending, including £5,000 paid to a Tenerife holiday rental company and £3,439 on a home energy bill.
Only £7,494 has been repaid of the £300,000 Brookes stole from the scheme.
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Further information
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