Leeds finance firm boss Liam Wainwright banned from being a director for adding £12 million in false entries to company records

A Leeds finance firm boss has been banned from being a company director for 11 years after he added more than £12 million in false entries to his company records.
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Liam Wainwright added the false entries to the records of his finance firm Rawdon Asset Finance Limited in order to conceal the true amount of money loaned to clients.

The Insolvency Service said the 58-year-old Wainwright was the sole director of the company when the financial misconduct was carried out.

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The company was incorporated in 2009 and provided finance to small and medium businesses unable to secure funding.

Rawdon Asset Finance Limited had an office registered to Park Row, Leeds city centreRawdon Asset Finance Limited had an office registered to Park Row, Leeds city centre
Rawdon Asset Finance Limited had an office registered to Park Row, Leeds city centre

On repeated occasions, Wainwright allowed customers to borrow sums in excess of the security they had provided Rawdon Asset Finance

This practice exposed the company to substantial financial risk and, in May 2019, Rawdon Asset Finance entered into administration before an investigation was launched by the Insolvency Service into Wainwright’s conduct.

The investigation found that in an effort to conceal where he had provided additional funding to clients, Wainwright submitted multiple false entries to Rawdon Asset Finance’s accounting records from 2016 until the company entered into administration.

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Wainwright’s actions meant that Rawdon Asset Finance’s financial position had been misrepresented to its financiers.

Investigators established that the company's loan book claimed it had loans of almost £20 million.

But this figure contained a number of duplicate amounts or debts that had already been written off.

The true amount was an estimated £7.2 million and Rawdon Asset Finance’s (RAF) lenders were owed at least £18.7 million.

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On 21 October 2020, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Wainwright, after he did not dispute making multiple false entries totalling approximately £12,690,522 in RAF’s loan book, causing false accounts to be filed, and thereby misrepresenting RAF’s position to its financiers.

Wainwright is banned from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

The ban was effective from 11 November 2020 and lasts for 11 years.

Robert Clarke, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

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"Liam Wainwright intentionally made multiple false entries worth millions in his company’s loan book.

"The director was deliberate in his misconduct to conceal RAF’s true financial position from its financiers and exposed them to significant risk of financial harm with claims of more than £18m.

"Keeping proper records is a pivotal duty for directors and there is no place in the business environment for those who disregard their responsibilities and cover up the activities of their companies."

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