William Price, a former ICAEW member and insolvency practitioner, has been given a two-year prison sentence and disqualified from being a director or insolvency practitioner for seven years following a hearing at Cardiff Crown Court
Price pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud, two counts of theft and one count of false accounting.
The offences related to the misappropriation of nearly £48,000 Price received as the trustee in bankruptcy of five bankrupts and the liquidator of one company, for the benefit of their creditors and the falsification of his time sheets in relation to his administration of one bankruptcy.
They took place against the background of the restriction and withdrawal of Price’s insolvency practitioner’s licence by ICAEW. Price was banned from the profession in 2013 after a disciplinary committee tribunal found he had failed to hand over more than £88,000 to the Insolvency Service whilst handling the liquidation of an engineering company. Price was held to have caused significant loss to third parties and his behaviour judged to be serious professional misconduct.
The latest conviction follows a referral by the Insolvency Service and a full criminal investigation and prosecution by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with assistance from Gwent Police.
Liam Mannall, BEIS deputy chief investigating officer, said: ‘The Insolvency Service and BEIS will take firm action in respect of criminal activity on the part of insolvency professionals, who are under an enhanced fiduciary duty when dealing with vulnerable individuals and distressed companies.
‘Mr Price completely betrayed the trust placed in him by a number of people who considered him to be an individual who would apply his professional knowledge to help them through difficult periods in their lives.’
