London hotelier sentenced for exploiting Covid support scheme nine times to fraudulently claim £450,000

Richard Courtenay claimed £450,000 in Bounce Back Loans across nine fraudulent applications Courtenay inflated the turnover of his companies, dishonestly secured multiple loans for the same business, and used the funds for personal purposes The 62-year-old, who only fully repaid the funds when under investigation by the Insolvency Service, was handed a suspended sentence of three years, the maximum which can now be suspended A London hotelier who blamed the banks for not chasing him over repayments has been sentenced after securing £450,000 in Covid loans at the height of the pandemic. Richard Courtenay’s nine Bounce Back Loan applications in May and June 2020 involved fraudulent declarations about the turnover