SERIAL FRAUDSTER AND SON SENT TO PRISON
6 Jan 2005 12:15 PM
A father and son team who fraudulently ran up business debts have
been sent to prison following a DTI prosecution.
Bernard Hyman was already disqualified from acting as a director and
had recently served a prison sentence for fraudulent trading and
mortgage fraud, when he started working for Merlin (Soft Furnishings)
Ltd as a "consultant". In effect, he was acting as a director of the
company, which provided soft furnishings to the hotel industry.
His son Bradley was appointed company secretary in November 1999 and
a director in March 2000.
In November 1999 Merlin (Soft Furnishings) Ltd was trading with
relatively small debts. But by the time the company was placed into
voluntary liquidation on 5 January 2001, these had increased to
130,539.
Despite receipt of funds from customers, Bernard Hyman and his son
failed to pay suppliers and failed to provide goods to their
customers. The amount outstanding to suppliers steadily increased
but the men made payments to themselves instead of creditors. About
49,504 was paid to Bernard Hyman as "consultancy" fees while the
debts to creditors continued to mount.
Bernard Hyman, 58, of Kenton Lane, Harrow, Middlesex was sentenced to
seven months imprisonment for fraudulent trading and disqualified
from acting as a director for three years. He was also ordered to pay
a confiscation order of 50 to be paid within 28 days or serve a
further seven days in prison.
Bradley Hyman, 31, of Lavender Close, Hatfield, Hertfordshire was
sentenced to eight months imprisonment and disqualified from acting
as a director for three years. He was also ordered to pay a
confiscation order of 47,722 to be paid within three months or
serve a further 15 months in prison, and ordered to pay compensation
of 47,089.17. The Court directed that the compensation sum would be
met from the money recovered under the confiscation order.
This is the second occasion that Bernard Hyman has been convicted by
a Court of fraudulent trading and sent to prison. On 17 July 1995
he was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for two counts of
fraudulent trading and one count of deception involving a mortgage
fraud. In October 1994 he was disqualified from acting as a director
for a period of nine years.
Passing sentence at St Albans Crown Court on 5 January 2005, His
Honour Judge Cripps said:
"The fact remains that each did what he did with his eyes open.
"Both experienced the events of 1995 and 1996, the father as a
prisoner, and the son as the supporter of the family in his father's
absence serving his sentence. Both knew how the court would regard
fraudulent trading yet both decided to commit the crime over a period
of months for their own benefit.
"The debt left behind may not be large but to each of those creditors
they were surely matters of great importance."
Notes to editors
1. Bernard and Bradley Hyman both pleaded guilty to the charge of
fraudulent trading on 12 July 2004 at St Albans Crown Court. Bernard
Hyman also accepted that he was in breach of his disqualification
order.
2. The case was prosecuted by Legal Services Prosecution Branch of
the Department of Trade and Industry following a referral from the
Insolvency Service, in response to a complaint to the Insolvency
Service Disqualified Directors Hotline.
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