COVID loans fraudster sentenced for using funds on gambling and crypto

The director of a glazing company has received a sentence for defrauding the UK government by misappropriating COVID relief loans to fund gambling and crypto investments.

Haralambos Ioannou, the 49-year-old in question, was found to have used his company, Opti-Bond (GB) Ltd, as a front to obtain the two loans of £100,000 ($133,000) in total.

Glazing firm director swindles COVID relief loans for gambling

The funds were supposed to be used to bridge the financial hardship that businesses had been facing during the global pandemic. Named Covid Bounce Back loans, they each were valued at £50,000 ($67,000), but only one of these loans could be applied to qualifying businesses.

Ioannou, according to the UK government, applied for the first loan to business-related matters, but the second was used “ for personal purposes, breaking the rules of the scheme.”

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said, “He not only fraudulently applied for a second loan but then spent it on activities which had nothing to do with his company’s operations such as gambling, crypto-investments, cash withdrawals and payments to his then partner.”

Ioannou uses money to fund his personal life

He applied for the first of the loans in May 2020, stating that the window company’s 2019 turnover was £216,000. He would then submit a second loan application on Opti-Bond’s turnover in 2019, but he changed the figure to £236,000 ($314,000).

He was reported to have received both loan payments across eight days and would then process thirty-eight fraudulent transactions totalling £20,000 ($27,000) to his personal account.

Cross-referenced with the payments he made in this time frame to gambling companies, Ioannou is reported to have made £25,000 ($33,000) worth of deposits and transactions.

In addition to the gambling payments, he also made £8,000 worth of investments in cryptocurrency companies, withdrew £6,000 from ATMs, and transferred £16,000 to his now-ex wife, all from the loan monies.

Opti-Bond entered insolvency in November 2021, and the company director failed to alert the Insolvency Service of the initial Bounce Back Loan or the second loan he used for personal expenditure.

He has received a sentence of 22 months in custody, which has been suspended for a period of two years.

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