The director of a failed British investment company Ethical Elegance Limited has been disqualified for 13 years by the British High Court for giving false information to customers to persuade them to transfer valuable wines to the company in exchange for diamonds, and for failing to keep proper company records, according to a press release from the Insolvency Service.
The Insolvency Service’s investigations found that between May and August 2013 at least 7 customers of Ethical Elegance Ltd were persuaded to transfer wines to the company after being offered diamonds stated to be worth over US$350,000. After transferring their wines, which were sold for nearly US$200,000, none of the customers received any proceeds from the sale of diamonds and were instead sent diamonds in the post of a value far lower than the wine they had sold.
The Insolvency Service’s investigations also found that the director of the company, which traded by offering diamonds to customers in exchange for fine wine assets and by promising to then sell the diamonds on the customers’ behalf, failed to provide any accounting records for the company to the Liquidators, thus making it impossible to trace diamonds costing some US$25,000.
“Consumers and the wider business community need protection from people who operate companies in such unscrupulous ways. This disqualification should serve as a warning that if directors behave in this way their conduct will be investigated and they will be removed from the business environment,” says Deputy Head Investigator at the Insolvency Service Martin Gitner.
