Construction boss gambles away £700,000 in company cash

A Nottinghamshire construction boss has been jailed after fraudulently removing more than £700,000 from four struggling companies to fund his gambling addiction.

Wesley Grainger-Smith, 66, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at Lincoln Crown Court after pleading guilty to five counts of fraudulently removing company property.

Between 2014 and 2017, Grainger-Smith transferred large sums from company accounts into his casino gaming account.

While he was not officially listed as a director of the companies, he exerted influence over their operations and had access to their finances.

The Insolvency Service’s investigation uncovered around £570,000 in cash deposits returned to the companies, which Grainger-Smith claimed came from his gambling winnings.

Investigators stressed that he was never entitled to use company funds for gambling in the first place.

Mark Stephens, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service said: “Wesley Grainger-Smith removed vast sums of money from failing companies to fund his gambling at casinos. He cannot have thought he was entitled to recklessly gamble with company money, or that he was acting in the best interests of the four companies where he said he acted as a consultant.

“Directors, or those acting as directors such as Grainger-Smith, will continue to be prosecuted by the Insolvency Service if they deliberately and fraudulently put money out of the reach of creditors.”

Grainger-Smith’s misconduct involved four companies, Eagleport, Smiths Constructions, Smiths Construction Services and Smiths Construction Specialists.

Between April 2014 and May 2015, he withdrew £230,810 from Eagleport’s account, just before the company was wound up in June 2015.

He then removed £110,250 from Smiths Constructions between April and November 2015, with the company entering liquidation the following month.

In 2016, he transferred £84,600 from Smiths Construction Services, which entered liquidation in September of that year.

His final fraudulent transactions occurred between August 2016 and February 2017, when he withdrew £276,390 from Smiths Construction Specialists, which ceased trading shortly after.

In total, Grainger-Smith stole £702,050 from the companies before declaring bankruptcy in March 2017.

His misconduct led to a five-year company director ban in July 2017 related to Eagleport, followed by a further 10-year disqualification in June 2019 for his actions at Smiths Construction Specialists.