After an investigation into the Xclusive group of companies, ticket tout Terry Shepherd was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of money laundering, fraudulent trading and two counts of acting as a company director while disqualified.
The Serious Fraud Office reported on July 6. The company’s ‘front man’ Allan Scott was also convicted of fraudulent trading and accountant, Allan Schaverien, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting fraudulent trading before the trial.
On 11 July 2011 Terry Shepherd was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years. Allan Scott was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Allan Schaverien was sentenced to two years and eight months imprisonment.
Between 2008 and 2010, The Insolvency Service’s Company Investigations team, investigated Mr Shepherd’s group of companies and passed its findings to the Serious Fraud Office. The companies operated in the secondary ticket market and took substantial sums of money from members of the public but failed to deliver their tickets. The combined debt of these companies was more than £8 million.
Information gathered during the course of this investigation proved to be instrumental to the success of the Serious
Fraud Office’s criminal investigation.
Chris Mayhew, Company Investigations Supervisor at The Insolvency Service said after the case: "There is no room for companies who abuse the public’s trust by preying on their eager enthusiasm for tickets.
"The Insolvency Service is determined to make sure that unscrupulous ticket companies don’t get away with it, as shown by this sentence and the number of underhand ticket agencies that we have closed down in recent years following investigation by our Company Investigations team."
The Company Investigations team has previously investigated and wound up the following ticket tout companies in the public interest:
Ticket Daddy Limited (25/05/11)
Sportsbookings Limited (30/03/11)
EU Ticket Shop Limited (1/12/10).
Ticket Wizard Limited (01/12/10)
SOS Master Tickets Limited (15/09/10)
Durban Vienna Limited (03/03/10)
Ticketmate Limited (28/01/10)
The Online Ticket Exchange Limited (28/01/10)
Ticketout Limited (19/05/08)
MLT Services Limited (19/05/08)
London Ticket Shop Szolgaltato Es Kereskedelmi Felelossegu Tarasarag (19/05/08)
London Ticket Shop Limited (19/05/08)
Get Me Tickets Limited (18/05/06)
Note
Company Investigations, part of The Insolvency Service, carries out confidential enquiries on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS).
