Disqualified director ordered to repay £500k to creditors

A wine merchant has been disqualified from running a company for 15 years and ordered to repay £500,000 to his company’s creditors.

Kevin William Eagling was a director of Noble Vintners Ltd, which entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation in June 2017 with an estimated deficiency of more than £1.6 million.

A liquidator was appointed to wind-up the company’s affairs before reporting to the Insolvency Service.

Investigators then uncovered transactions which showed that for just under a year between November 2015 and October 2016, Eagling authorised company funds worth £559,484 to be transferred to a second company of which he was also a sole director and shareholder.

He was given the maximum 15-year directorship disqualification from the courts in May 2019.

Judge Prentis then ordered the 57-year-old, who now lives in Northern Cyprus, to pay back £559,484 to the company’s creditors.

The Insolvency Service tackles financial misconduct and in 2018/19, secured more than 1,200 directorship disqualifications. To further strengthen the enforcement regime, an additional power was granted in 2015 allowing the Insolvency Service to seek a compensation order against a disqualified director of an insolvent company.

David Brooks, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Kevin Eagling, abused his clients and creditors, denying them hundreds of thousands of pounds. In passing down the compensation order, the judge noted that clients were hit particularly hard as they thought they would benefit from their investments, which ultimately came to nothing.

“This case illustrates that compensation orders can be a valuable tool for the Secretary of State in seeking recompense for creditors to supplement the recovery actions available to office-holders who have been unable to take recovery action within the insolvency regime.”

Please contact Neil O’Callaghan if you would like help with debt collection or credit control, up to and including court action.