London hotelier fraudulently obtained £450,000 in Covid ‘bounce back’ loansRichard Courtenay’s nine loan applications in May and June 2020 involved fraudulent declarations about the turnover of five companies and applying for multiple loans when businesses were only allowed onePedestrians in central London wearing face masks during the Covid pandemic on November 22, 2020AFP via Getty ImagesMichael Howie, Senior News Editor1 minute ago
A London hotelier has been sentenced after fraudulently securing hundreds of thousands of pounds in Covid “bounce back” loans at the height of the pandemic.
Richard Courtenay’s nine loan applications in May and June 2020 involved fraudulent declarations about the turnover of five companies and applying for multiple loans when businesses were only allowed one.
The 62-year-old failed to use the funds for business purposes and attempted to conceal them by swiftly moving them into his personal accounts or the bank accounts of his other companies.
Courtenay, of Larpent Avenue, London, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud and one count of money laundering in July this year.
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He was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for three years, at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, September 3. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and attend 10 days of rehabilitation activity.
Courtenay has repaid the £450,000 he fraudulently obtained in full, but only after Insolvency Service investigations into his criminal conduct began.
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.”
Courtenay’s nine Bounce Back Loan applications of £50,000 each, the maximum allowed under the scheme, were made between May 7 and June 25, 2020, for the following five companies:
* Hotel Belgravia Limited
* Belgravia Rooms Limited
* Lebex Limited
* Directlingua Limited
* Belgravia Accommodation Ltd
In practice, the companies were interlinked, with Courtenay himself admitting that his business arrangements, “while clear in theory, often became confused to me.”
Courtenay said that Lebex Limited held leases on adjoining hotel buildings in Belgravia which were run as one hotel business under the name “Belgravia Rooms”.
Courtenay was interviewed under caution by the Insolvency Service where he responded “no comment” to questions put to him.
In a prepared statement, he denied any dishonesty, claiming he believed the turnover figures were accurate but acknowledging he had not checked them.
He said he did not realise only one Bounce Back Loan was allowed per company, despite it clearly being stated on the application form.
Courtenay added that he assumed the banks would carry out their own checks and blamed them for not chasing him more persistently for repayments.
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