A director of more than 400 companies including construction and development firms has been banned after repeatedly undermining the insolvency regime.
Neville Taylor has been banned for nine years after being paid more than a quarter of a million pounds to become the sole director of 12 companies which had ceased trading but had not entered liquidation.
Eleven of the 12 companies filed accounts at Companies House and traded in sectors such as construction, human resources, education, farming, IT and water treatment.
The insolvency service said the 57-year-old made little or no attempt to verify information relating to their affairs, including securing records and assets, breaching his duties as a company director and subverting the insolvency system in the process.
Taylor became sole director of the companies between April 2022 and March 2023.
Insolvency Service analysis of bank statements revealed Taylor was paid £266,914 by Atherton Corporate (UK) Ltd to perform this role.
The companies had combined assets of £8,278,912 according to their final filed accounts.
More than £7.6 million in assets across the 12 companies could not be accounted for by the time they entered liquidation, with their estimated assets standing at only £676,169.
No assets were identified at several of the companies, while assets of under £1,000 were identified at others.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds accepted a disqualification undertaking from Taylor, with his ban starting on Friday 3 January.
Taylor will have to step down as director of at least 196 companies from his correspondence address in the town of Kington in Herefordshire and more than 250 companies with correspondence addresses in Telford, Wakefield and Dunfermline.
Atherton Corporate (UK) Ltd was liquidated in August 2024, after facilitating the sale of struggling companies and encouraging directors to dispose of all their assets before selling.
Dave Magrath, director of investigation and enforcement services at the Insolvency Service, said: “Taylor hampered efforts by liquidators to identify assets, caused a widespread loss to creditors and breached his duties as a director to act in the best interest of the companies and creditors.
“He also accepted that his conduct was part of a scheme designed to subvert and undermine insolvency legislation.
“Taylor made inadequate attempts to identify and locate millions of pounds of assets, to obtain company records, or to make himself aware of the companies’ trading.
“At the same time, he was paid by Atherton Corporate (UK) Ltd to enable this scheme.
“By disqualifying Taylor, we are making it clear that we will not tolerate those who avoid their legal duties as directors or seek to enable phoenixism.”
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