Bounce Back Loan fraudster pays back money he fraudulently received in full.
Details of the original case that I reported on a while back, can be found here > 20 Month Suspended Prison Sentence and 300 Hours of Unpaid Work for Over-Egging Turnover to Get a £50k BBL, Dissolving His Company and for Trying, But Being Unsuccessful in Blagging a Second BBL
Sameer Saeed fraudulently secured a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan in 2020 by exaggerating the turnover of his Digital Business Box Ltd business
Saeed was handed a suspended sentence after spending the money on personal expenses including a BMW, and applying to dissolve his business less than two weeks after applying for the loan
He has now been forced to sell his BMW and east London flat to repay the loan after a proceeds of crime investigation by the Insolvency Service
A convicted Covid loan fraudster has sold his BMW and flat to repay the £50,000 he illegally obtained.
Sameer Saeed was handed a suspended sentence and director ban in December 2022 after admitting fraudulently securing a Bounce Back Loan in 2020 and unsuccessfully applying for another.
The 44-year-old also applied to have his Digital Business Box Ltd company struck off the Companies House register 12 days after receiving the £50,000 loan.
Confiscation proceedings brought by the Insolvency Service led to Saeed first selling the BMW he bought and now his flat on Stoneleigh Road in Ilford.
Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said:
Sameer Saeed cynically accessed emergency Covid support scheme funds by overstating his turnover and then applied to have his company struck off in the same month.
His actions were premeditated, and he never planned to use the money for the economic benefit of his business.
Since his conviction, investigators at the Insolvency Service have worked hard to identify his assets and recover the money he fraudulently obtained.
This has been a long process but demonstrates our commitment and determination to recover money lost to the public purse.
Saeed was the sole director of Digital Business Box Ltd and The Home Wills Ltd, companies he set up in April 2019 and March 2020.
Digital Business Box’s trading activities were unclear. It was listed on Companies House as “other service activities not elsewhere classified.”
Saeed told the Insolvency Service that The Home Wills had never traded and had no turnover.
In spite of this, Saeed fraudulently applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan for Digital Business Box in June 2020, claiming his turnover was £200,000.
Saeed conceded the actual figure was closer to £60,000 in interviews.
He said money from the loan was used to pay off personal debts and provide for his family.
Saeed added that he also spent £19,000 on car repairs and a 2015 BMW X5 SUV.
Just 12 days after receiving the Bounce Back Loan in his account, Saeed applied to have Digital Business Box struck from the register at Companies House.
Saeed breached his legal duty to creditors by making this voluntary strike-off application without informing the bank who had lent him the loan of his actions.
In July 2020, Saeed also fraudulently attempted to secure a £50,000 loan for The Home Wills but his application was rejected by the bank.
Saeed was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, at Snaresbrook Crown Court in December 2022.
He was disqualified as a company director for three years, ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and make a £2,000 contribution to the prosecution costs incurred by the Insolvency Service.
Saeed was forced to sell his BMW by the same court, which he did in June 2023.
The sale of his property was finalised in late October 2024, with an additional payment of just over £850 made by Saeed to complete the repayment of his £50,000 loan in full.
Digital Business Box was dissolved in October 2020 and The Home Wills was dissolved in June 2021.
Further information
Sameer Saeed was previously of Stoneleigh Road, Ilford. His date of birth is 4 November 1980
Digital Business Box Ltd (company number 11955597)
The Home Wills Ltd (company number 12541349)
