Leeds finance firm boss Liam Wainwright banned from being a director for adding £12 million in false entries to 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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Hide AdThe company was incorporated in 2009 and provided finance to small and medium businesses unable to secure funding.
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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Hide AdWainwright’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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Hide AdOn 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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Hide Ad"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."