Likely penalty?
Discussion
Scenario: someone previously ran a business with their then-partner. The romantic partnership failed, and the decision was taken to split two fairly distinct halves of the business so that one person ran one aspect, the other person ran the other. Complex, a little messy, but all drawn up through solicitors.
The person running one half of the business has taken their eye off the ball and that part of the business is not performing well. They've tried to address this but those plans are now also on the brink of failing. Solution: they go to the bank for a £20k business loan, in the business name. Don't know what reason they gave to the bank for needing the loan, but the money is being used to prop up the daily BAU activity, and indeed to service the repayments on the loan. 75% of it is already spent, after just a few months. Financially, it would appear that the business is not long for this world.
Crucially, however, whatever the reasons and justification for loan given to the bank were, it transpires that the second owner of the business was not aware of the loan and in fact their signature was forged on the loan application by the other business partner.
The bank don't know this yet. Were they to find out, then apart from foreclosure and probably an accelerated failure of the business, what other steps might they take and what might happen to the fraudster?
NB: the above is all true and current.
The person running one half of the business has taken their eye off the ball and that part of the business is not performing well. They've tried to address this but those plans are now also on the brink of failing. Solution: they go to the bank for a £20k business loan, in the business name. Don't know what reason they gave to the bank for needing the loan, but the money is being used to prop up the daily BAU activity, and indeed to service the repayments on the loan. 75% of it is already spent, after just a few months. Financially, it would appear that the business is not long for this world.
Crucially, however, whatever the reasons and justification for loan given to the bank were, it transpires that the second owner of the business was not aware of the loan and in fact their signature was forged on the loan application by the other business partner.
The bank don't know this yet. Were they to find out, then apart from foreclosure and probably an accelerated failure of the business, what other steps might they take and what might happen to the fraudster?
NB: the above is all true and current.
Edited by CAPP0 on Saturday 6th April 17:39
BV, whilst I fully understand your point, and am very well aware that it's routinely al la mode to talk about "one's friend" on here when seeking information, I can categorically state that it's not me and I'd be perfectly happy to justify that offline were it ever necessary.
The situation involves two people of my acquaintance, rather than being actual friends, and the circumstances regarding how the loan was obtained were told to me yesterday by someone much closer to the two business partners than I.
The innocent, or unwitting, partner is the type of person who just sits back and lets life happen, whereas the perpetrating partner is utterly money-driven and would do anything, to anyone, for their own gain, as miserable and pathetic as the extent of that gain might be. Utterly self-obsessed and has demonstrated that in many ways over the past few years. They have shown in the past that they will walk all over the other partner for their own ends. Why the other one tolerates any of that is beyond me. I don't know whether he is now aware of the fraud. If he is but does nothing does that render him culpable in any way?
So to my non-legal mind it appears to be a straightforward case of fraud. Is that correct, and if so, is the standard punishment if tried and found guilty a custodial one?
The situation involves two people of my acquaintance, rather than being actual friends, and the circumstances regarding how the loan was obtained were told to me yesterday by someone much closer to the two business partners than I.
The innocent, or unwitting, partner is the type of person who just sits back and lets life happen, whereas the perpetrating partner is utterly money-driven and would do anything, to anyone, for their own gain, as miserable and pathetic as the extent of that gain might be. Utterly self-obsessed and has demonstrated that in many ways over the past few years. They have shown in the past that they will walk all over the other partner for their own ends. Why the other one tolerates any of that is beyond me. I don't know whether he is now aware of the fraud. If he is but does nothing does that render him culpable in any way?
So to my non-legal mind it appears to be a straightforward case of fraud. Is that correct, and if so, is the standard punishment if tried and found guilty a custodial one?
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