The Insolvency Service of the United Kingdom has condemned businessman Alex Hope for two fraud offenses and money laundering after transferring funds from a fraudulently obtained loan to various accounts to buy a property in Puerto Calero, in Lanzarote.
The agency dependent on the UK Government points out that Alex Hope fraudulently obtained two loans in the country. One of them came from aid to companies for the coronavirus pandemic, while the other was requested from a private entity.
According to the Insolvency Service itself, Hope ran the consultancy A Hope ltd when he fraudulently obtained the first of the loans from an economic recovery fund for the coronavirus. In 2020, he requested around 25,000 pounds sterling, the equivalent of 29,180 euros at the current exchange rate, declaring a false turnover for his company.
The chief investigator of the Insolvency Service, Mark Stephens, points out that "Alex Hope deliberately lied about his company's turnover to obtain a Covid loan intended to help businesses survive the pandemic."
The following year, in 2021, also as director of Virtutum Limited, a brand that marketed CBD, he obtained another loan of 56,000 pounds, around 65,300 euros, from a private lender. These two loans were used as part of the payment of 245,825 euros that Alex Hope made to buy a townhouse in Puerto Calero with his wife.
"Hope and Liam Jones also lied about a legal case against them to fraudulently obtain that second loan," Stephens maintained. In this same case, Liam Jones, Hope's business partner and co-director of Virtutum Limited, was also convicted.
The British public agency points out that Hope laundered the funds from both loans using various accounts and then used them to buy a home in Puerto Calero.
Both have pleaded guilty in the trial that was held last June. Now the Insolvency Service of the United Kingdom wants to recover the fraudulently obtained funds.
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