The director of a glass company has received a ruling for defrauding the UK government by misappropriating coronavirus relief loans to fund gambling and cryptocurrency investments.
It emerged that Haralambos Ioannou, 49, used his company Opti-Bond (GB) Ltd as a front to obtain two loans totaling £100,000 ($133,000).
Glazing company manager defrauds coronavirus relief loans in order to gamble
The money was supposed to be used to bridge the financial difficulties faced by companies during the global pandemic. Called the Covid Bounce Back loans, they were each worth £50,000 ($67,000), but only one of these loans could be applied to eligible businesses.
According to the UK government, Ioannou applied for the first loan for business matters, but the second was used for “personal purposes, which contravenes the rules of the scheme.”
David Snasdale, Senior Investigator at the Insolvency Service He said“,” Not only Fraudulently He applied for a second loan but then spent it on activities unrelated to his company’s operations such as gambling, cryptocurrency investments, cash withdrawals and payments to his partner at the time.
Ioannou uses the money to finance his personal life
He applied for the first of the loans in May 2020, citing the window’s 2019 turnover of £216,000. He would then submit a second loan application on Opti-Bond’s turnover in 2019, but changed the figure to £236,000 ($314,000).
He reportedly received two loan payments over eight days and would then process thirty-eight Fraudulent transactions A total of £20,000 ($27,000) to his personal account.
Compared to the payments he made in this time frame to gambling companies, Ioannou reportedly made £25,000 ($33,000) worth of deposits and transactions.
As well as the gambling payments, he also made £8,000 worth of investments in cryptocurrency companies, withdrew £6,000 from an ATM, and transferred £16,000 to his ex-wife, all from loan funds.
Opti-Bond entered insolvency in November 2021, and the company’s director failed to alert the Insolvency Service about the initial bounced loan or the second loan he used for personal spending.
He was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years.
Featured image: Canva
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