Construction boss jailed for siphoning off cash for casino

Wesley Grainger-Smith, 66, was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in jail at Lincoln Crown Courtroom final week.

Grainger-Smith, of Winthorpe, had beforehand pleaded responsible to 5 counts of fraudulently eradicating firm property at an earlier listening to.

The Insolvency Service additionally found round £570,000 in money deposits paid again to the businesses, which investigators imagine might correlate with Grainger-Smith’s declare that he paid many of the a refund by way of his playing winnings.

Mark Stephens, Chief Investigator on the Insolvency Service, stated: “Wesley Grainger-Smith eliminated huge sums of cash from failing corporations to fund his playing at casinos.

“He can not have thought he was entitled to recklessly gamble with firm cash, or that he was appearing in the very best pursuits of the 4 corporations the place he stated he acted as a marketing consultant.

“Administrators, or these appearing as administrators reminiscent of Grainger-Smith, will proceed to be prosecuted by the Insolvency Service in the event that they intentionally and fraudulently put cash out of the attain of collectors.”

Grainger-Smith’s offending occurred between 2014 and 2017 when he acted within the position of director of 4 corporations: Eagleport Ltd, Smiths Constructions Ltd, Smiths Building Providers Ltd and Smiths Building Specialists Ltd

Grainger-Smith stated that whereas he was not the director of any of the businesses, he was capable of exert affect over the official administrators and withdraw the cash with their information.

Between April 2014 and Might 2015, Grainger-Smith eliminated £230,810 from Eagleport’s account.

A winding-up order was made in opposition to the corporate one month later in June 2015.

Grainger-Smith then eliminated £110,250 from Smiths Constructions between April and November 2015, with the corporate getting into liquidation in December of that yr.

Within the 5 months from February to July 2016, Grainger-Smith fraudulently transferred £84,600 from the checking account of Smiths Building Providers.

A liquidator was appointed for Smiths Building Providers in September of that yr.

Grainger-Smith’s closing fraudulent removing of firm funds got here between August 2016 and February 2017, when he withdrew £276,390 from the account of Smiths Building Specialists.

Smiths Building Specialists, as with the opposite three corporations, quickly stopped buying and selling after the removing of the funds, with winding-up proceedings starting in June 2017.

In complete, Grainger-Smith fraudulently eliminated £702,050 from the 4 corporations, with the funds going into his on line casino gaming account.

Grainger-Smith was declared bankrupt in March 2017 and was banned as an organization director for 5 years in July of that yr because of his misconduct at Eagleport.

He was disqualified for an extra 10 years in June 2019 for his misconduct at Smiths Building Specialists.