Lender who added millions to accounting records is banned

A lender from West Yorkshire has been banned for 11 years after adding more than £12m in false entries to company records to conceal true amount of money loaned to clients.

Liam Francis Wainwright, 58, from Leeds, was a director of Rawdon Asset Finance Limited. (RAF)

The company was incorporated in 2009 and provided finance to small and medium businesses unable to secure funding.

On numerous occasions, however, 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 – with James Sleight and Oliver Collinge of PKF GM appointed joint administrators – 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.

Wainwright’s actions meant Rawdon Asset Finance’s financial position had been misrepresented to its financiers.

Investigators established that Rawdon Asset Finance’s loan book claimed it had loans of almost £20m but this figure contained a number of duplicate amounts or debts that had already been written off.

The true amount was an estimated £7.2m and Rawdon Asset Finance’s lenders were owed at least £18.7m.

On 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 financers.

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: “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.”

Joint administrator James Sleight added: “This case is among the worst examples of fraud and financial mismanagement I have witnessed in 20 years as an Insolvency Practitioner.