'Fast Eddie' Convicted Over Fee Scam

A convicted fraudster, known as Fast Eddie, has lost his legal appeal against a disqualification from becoming a company director, following opposition from the Insolvency Service.

Eddie Davenport was last year found to be behind a high-profile advance fee scam and disqualified from being a director.

The High Court in London considered Mr Davenport, also known as “Lord” Davenport and Fast Eddie, had no special skills or real or legitimate needs to remain as a director of his companies in order to properly deal with the assets they held.

The Insolvency Service, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, opposed the application on the grounds that Mr Davenport had been convicted of misconduct so serious that the need to protect the public was "paramount".

In the original case brought by the Serious Fraud Office, Mr Davenport and his associates were convicted of using a company called Gresham Limited, which claimed it could obtain finance in the tens or hundreds of millions of pounds, after victims paid an up front fee.

According to the Insolvency Service, the finance never existed and investors were strung along by "an elaborate play of excuses and deception".

Gresham went into liquidation in 2009 owing creditors over £2million.

Following the conviction, Mr Davenport was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison, and banned from being a director or being involved in the management of a company for ten years.

Mr Davenport’s property assets in London include one at 33 Portland Place and are estimated to be worth between £20million and £30million. They are owned by companies registered in Nevis in the West Indies, of which he was the sole shareholder and director. All his property is subject to a restraining order pending recovery proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Following his sentencing, Mr Davenport applied for leave to remain a director of these companies, under section 17 Company Director Disqualification Act.

In dismissing the application and refusing leave to act, Registrar Derrett noted that: "On any basis, the fact of his [Mr Davenport’s] criminal conviction for fraud is a very serious matter

"Fundamentally, in my judgement, I do not consider that it is right or that it can be right for Mr Davenport to be considered an appropriate person to be allowed to continue to be a director of a company when he has been convicted of such a serious fraud which has led to a term of imprisonment in excess of seven years and a disqualification order for ten years."

(DW/GK)