A company director who “repeatedly subverted the insolvency system” by facilitating debt-dumping arrangements for struggling businesses has been banned from running firms for nine years, following a government investigation.
Neville Taylor, 57, served as a director of more than 400 companies and received close to £270,000 from Atherton Corporate, operators of a scheme that took over control of companies teetering on the brink of collapse. Instead of entering insolvency, these businesses were allowed to cease trading without properly settling their debts.
The Insolvency Service uncovered serious failings in 12 of the companies in which Taylor was installed as director. In each case, investigators concluded that Taylor “made little or no attempt to verify information relating to their affairs, including securing records and assets, breaching his duties as a company director and subverting the insolvency system in the process”.
Atherton Corporate’s scheme, which remains operational despite attempts by authorities to shut it down last year, is understood to have enabled directors of over 1,000 ailing companies to escape debts amounting to tens of millions of pounds—including unpaid tax liabilities. The scheme was marketed as a “legal alternative to using insolvency practitioners” through a venture called National Company Rescue, which allegedly urged directors to liquidate assets and strip struggling companies, ultimately depriving creditors of significant sums.
Stephen Hunt, a partner at specialist insolvency firm Griffins, who raised concerns about the scheme, described Taylor’s disqualification as a “useful public declaration that this sort of service is improper and others should cease it immediately.”
Dave Magrath, director of investigation and enforcement at the Insolvency Service, said: “Neville Taylor hampered efforts by liquidators to identify assets, caused a widespread loss to creditors and breached his duties as a director. He also accepted that his conduct was part of a scheme designed to subvert and undermine insolvency legislation.”
The Insolvency Service is understood to be considering further action against directors who have used the Atherton scheme. Attempts to reach Taylor and John Irvin, the man behind Atherton, for comment were unsuccessful.
