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Fraud upon fraud in Bounce-Back loan claim

A businessman has been jailed following an investigation into a fraudulent Bounce-Back loan claim.

Gerald Smith was given a prison sentence of 18 months in September 2024 on two counts related to fraud and concealing criminal property or concealing the use of money.

Smith successfully received a loan of £50,000, which he claimed he needed to keep his business afloat.

However, it was later revealed that he had used the cash in part to help pay back court order fees linked to a different fraud case and fund a luxurious lifestyle.

The Bounce-Back loan was designed to protect and support businesses through the Covid pandemic by allowing them to apply for an interest-free and/or low-interest loan to a maximum value of £50,000.

The investigation found that Smith “demonstrated an incredible amount of manipulation, conceit and greed” by applying for the loan as Ian Dunbar, who was listed as being a director of Arcana Solutions Ltd.

The loan was subsequently paid out to Arcana Solutions Ltd and secured by an electronic signature in the name “Ian Dunbar”. However, it transpired that Ian Dunbar was simply an alias of Gerald Smith.

Smith then used £22,000 of the loan to pay for court fees relating to a fraud case for which he had been imprisoned in 2006, but that sum was a drop in the ocean compared with the sum of £72 million he owes following a confiscation order placed on him following his imprisonment.  It was alleged that he had spent a fortune on fine dining, flights and other luxury purchases.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that the CPS and other investigative agencies would continue to pursue fraudsters who dishonestly enriched themselves from Government support grants and loans.

Commenting on the case, Roger Isaacs, National Technical Director of NIFA, said: “The volume of fraud cases related to Covid support scheme is very large and even some years after the pandemic, it is clear that the Government is continuing to pursue those that have exploited the Bounce Back Loan scheme.

“Unfortunately, in this case as in many similar ones, a confiscation order for many tens of millions of pounds doesn’t necessarily result in large sums being recovered to compensate victims.

“More often than not, funds are transferred abroad or hidden using a web of cryptocurrencies in an attempt to defeat forensic accountants and others who try to trace them.

“In many cases the money has simply been spent on luxurious lifestyles, for which there may well be little to show in terms of recoverable and realisable assets.”

Sources: City of London Police


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