Boss Jailed for Stealing £700k from Failing Firms to Fund Casino

A construction boss went to prison. Wesley Grainger-Smith is 66 years old. He took money illegally from four companies. He moved over £700,000 to his casino account. The court sentenced him to two years and four months at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday, February 28.

Grainger-Smith admitted to fraud charges earlier. These charges involve removing company funds. The Insolvency Service found £570,000 in cash deposits going back to the companies. Investigators think this links to his gambling, however, he claimed he paid back the money that way.

Mark Stephens, a Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, spoke about the case. He said Grainger-Smith gambled company money and cannot use company funds for gambling. He was not acting in the companies’ best interests; he claimed to be a consultant.

The Insolvency Service will prosecute directors and those acting like directors. This applies if they hide funds from creditors. Grainger-Smith’s actions occurred from 2014 to 2017, a period when he acted as a director for four firms.

Grainger-Smith said he was not an official director, but he influenced the actual directors and withdrew money with their consent. He removed £230,810 from Eagleport between April 2014 and May 2015, and the company closed soon after.

From April to November 2015, he took £110,250 from Smiths Constructions, and the company was shut down in December. From February to July 2016, he moved £84,600 from Smiths Construction Services’ account.

A manager was appointed for Smiths Construction Services in September of that same year. He then took £276,390 from another business, Smiths Construction Specialists, between August 2016 and February 2017.

Smiths Construction Specialists also ceased operations after the money was removed, with winding-up starting in June 2017. In total, Grainger-Smith took £702,050 from the firms and put these funds into his casino account.

Grainger-Smith became bankrupt in March 2017 and was banned as a director for five years due to his actions at Eagleport. A later ban of ten years followed involving his conduct at Smiths Construction Specialists.

Grainger-Smith’s birth date is June 11, 1958. He was sentenced for illegal fund removal against the Insolvency Act of 1986, a violation of section 206 involving winding up a company.