A London hotelier who fraudulently obtained “£450,000 through nine applications under the UK Government’s COVID-19 support scheme has been sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for three years.”
Richard Courtenay, 62, secured the funds through nine Bounce Back Loan applications made between May and June 2020, using five companies.
The Home Office on its website on Monday disclosed this.
According to the UK Insolvency Service, “Courtenay inflated the turnover of his companies, dishonestly secured multiple loans for the same business and failed to use the funds for business purposes.”
He also attempted to conceal the funds by moving them into his personal bank accounts and those of his other companies.
Courtenay, of Larpent Avenue, London, pleaded guilty in July to nine counts of fraud and one count of money laundering.
He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, September 3, and was also “ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and attend 10 days of rehabilitation activity.”
The Insolvency Service said Courtenay “repaid the £450,000 in full, but only after investigations into his criminal conduct had begun.”
The nine applications, each for the maximum “£50,000 allowed under the scheme, were made for Hotel Belgravia Limited, Belgravia Rooms Limited, Lebex Limited, Directlingua Limited and Belgravia Accommodation Ltd.
“Courtenay’s first fraudulent application was made for Hotel Belgravia Limited, a company incorporated in January 2020 with him as its sole director.”
He declared the company’s turnover as £500,000, although dormant accounts were later filed for the company in December 2020.
By the end of May 2020, the money had been moved into Lebex Limited and to two of Courtenay’s associates.
Three days later, he applied for another Bounce Back Loan for Belgravia Rooms Limited, falsely declaring its turnover as £400,000.
The funds were again transferred into his personal bank accounts.
Exactly one month later, Courtenay made a second application for the same company, again declaring a £400,000 turnover and falsely stating that it was the company’s only Bounce Back Loan application.
The money was again transferred to his personal accounts and other businesses.
He also fraudulently secured £200,000 in Bounce Back Loan funds from four separate banks for Lebex Limited between mid-May and late June, inconsistently declaring turnovers of £600,000, £500,000 and £400,000.
He again falsely declared that the company had not previously received a loan.
The funds were subsequently moved into his personal accounts, other companies and used to purchase cryptoassets.
For Directlingua Limited, Courtenay declared a turnover of £400,000 although the company had little more than £14,000 in cash, with the funds again used personally.
For Belgravia Accommodation Ltd, where he was not the official director, he instructed one of the listed directors to apply for £50,000, declaring a turnover of £250,000.
The funds were again transferred to his own account and that of an associate.
During an interview under caution by the Insolvency Service, Courtenay responded “no comment” to questions put to him.
In a prepared statement, however, he denied any dishonesty, claiming he believed the turnover figures were accurate while acknowledging that he had not checked them.
He also said he did not realise that only one Bounce Back Loan was allowed per company, despite the restriction being stated on the application form.
Courtenay added that he assumed the banks would carry out their own checks and blamed them for not pursuing him more persistently for repayments.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
“Richard Courtenay is an experienced businessman. It is therefore surprising that he claims he did not read his loan applications carefully or check them for accuracy.
“The reality is that his actions involved determination in exploiting a scheme vulnerable to fraud. It is clear he was driven by greed, given the sheer number of Bounce Back Loans he obtained within such a short space of time.
“Courtenay has shown limited remorse, denied any dishonesty and blamed the banks for him not keeping up with his repayments. His actions were dishonest when the scheme relied on the complete honesty of business owners while the country was in the grip of a pandemic.
“The Insolvency Service has a proven track record in tackling Bounce Back Loan fraud and we will continue to ensure fraudsters like Courtenay are held to account for taking advantage of support intended to help businesses when they needed it most.”
