More Bounce Back Loan Fraudsters In Court

21st May 2025

As of January 2025, there have been over 120,000 fraudulent Bounce Back Loan applications identified. Investigations into these cases have led to 831 director disqualifications, 93 bankruptcy restrictions, and 22 criminal prosecutions. The UK government has been working to recover fraudulent loans, with £1.3 billion already reclaimed.

Here are just two of the latest cases to go to court.

Recruitment consultant sentenced after fraudulently using Covid loans for personal purposes.

Rico Iheagwara fraudulently applied for two £20,000 Bounce Back Loans during the summer of 2020

Iheagwara's SJR Recruitment Limited company was not trading at the time of the applications

SJR Recruitment was placed into liquidation in 2021 with liabilities of more than £67,000

A recruitment consultant who fraudulently spent Covid support funds for personal purposes has been handed a suspended sentence.

Rico Iheagwara secured two Bounce Back Loans worth £20,000 each from different banks for his Essex-based SJR Recruitment Limited company when businesses were only entitled to a single loan under the scheme.

Iheagwara, 36, of River Meads, Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, for fraud when he appeared at St Albans Crown Court on Friday 16 May.

He was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Rico Iheagwara blatantly abused a taxpayer-backed scheme designed to support genuine small businesses through the pandemic. He knew he was not entitled to support yet continued with his fraudulent applications nonetheless.

Iheagwara's business was not trading at the time of his application so he was not entitled to a single penny from the scheme, let alone the £40,000 he fraudulently secured.

Tackling Covid support scheme abuse remains a key priority for the Insolvency Service and we will not hesitate to prosecute fraudsters such as Iheagwara who stole from the public purse during a national emergency.

SJR Recruitment was incorporated in January 2017 with Iheagwara as its sole director. The company's registered office address was on High Road in Loughton.

Iheagwara was also the sole signatory on both company bank accounts which were opened in May 2020, just one month before his first fraudulent application.

For both applications, made in June and July 2020, Iheagwara claimed the company's turnover was £82,000.

Iheagwara transferred the first £20,000 loan into his personal account on the same day he received the funds. For the second loan, he moved all £20,000 into his personal account the following day.

None of the £40,000 was used for the economic benefit of his business. Insolvency Service analysis of bank statements suggested that the funds were used for everyday expenses and paid to various family members.

In interviews, Iheagwara said he spent the funds on rent, paying off personal finance and supporting his children.

SJR Recruitment went into liquidation in April 2021. No repayments were made on the loans.

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Rico Iheagwara is of River Meads, Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire. His date of birth is 21 August 1988

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Director disqualified for 11 years after dishonestly securing Covid loan for Lincoln plumbing and heating company

Carl Barnes, the director of Central Plumbing & Heating Lincoln Ltd, made false statements about the company's turnover to secure a Bounce Back loan  

Carl Barnes applied for a Bounce Back loan of £47,500 for Central Plumbing & Heating Lincoln Ltd.  

He declared the company had a turnover of £340,000 when in reality it was nothing.  

Barnes has been banned as a company director for 11 years. The Secretary of State accepted a voluntary disqualification undertaking offered by him.  

The director of a plumbing and heating company has been banned for 11 years after overstating his company's turnover by hundreds of thousands of pounds to secure a Covid Bounce Back loan.  

Carl Barnes, of Ollerton Road, Retford, was the director of Central Plumbing & Heating Lincoln Ltd, which was incorporated in April 2016.   

The company, based on Wavell Drive in Lincoln, made a small profit in its first year of trading, but dormant accounts were filed by Barnes in the following years.  

In August 2020, the 45-year-old falsely claimed the company had a turnover of £340,000 for 2019, despite the actual turnover being £0.

He received a Covid Bounce Back loan for the company of £47,500 which it was not entitled to.  

Barnes was disqualified as a director for 11 years on 17 April 2025, with the ban beginning on 8 May 2025.  

Kevin Read, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:  

Carl Barnes exploited the Bounce Back Loan Scheme by providing false information about his company's turnover.  

His dishonesty has resulted in this significant director disqualification, which prevents him from forming or managing a company for more than a decade.   

The Insolvency Service will continue to investigate those who abused this scheme - designed to help small businesses during the pandemic - and bring them to justice.

Central Plumbing & Heating Lincoln Ltd went into liquidation in October 2022.  

The disqualification order prevents Barnes from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.  

Further information
Carl Philip Barnes is of Ollerton Road, Retford, Nottinghamshire. His date of birth is 14 June 1979. 

Once a case is identified as potentially fraudulent, it first goes through internal investigations by HMRC, the Insolvency Service, or other agencies before being referred for prosecution. Because this process is ongoing and many cases are still under review or in earlier stages of investigation.