Darren Christopher Bullough, the sole director of closed personal injury claims management company (CMC) Direct Assist Ltd, has been imprisoned and given a disqualification order.
The 21-month jail sentence at Bolton Crown Court comes following his guilty plea to one count of fraudulently removing funds and another count of failing to provide company books and records to the liquidator. Bullough is now also banned, for seven years, from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the court’s permission, in the promotion, formation, or management of a firm.
Direct Assist, which formally entered into compulsory liquidation in March 2015, had two registered offices in Bury and Bolton. A petition to wind-up the CMC was lodged in court in September 2014 in relation to a £658,000 unpaid tax bill.
According to the announcement by the Insolvency Service, Bullough was found to have fraudulently removed nearly £51,000 in company funds between September and December 2014.
“Darren Bullough was well-known as someone who led an extravagant lifestyle, spending money on expensive property and fast cars,” said John Fitzsimmons, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service. “But he recklessly removed funds from his business knowing that Direct Assist was in financial difficulty.
“We welcome the court’s substantial sentence and their recognition of the severity of Darren Bullough’s offences as not only was this money not his to do with as he pleased but by removing the funds, he denied payment that was rightfully owed to the company’s creditors.”
