£21 million judgment in payroll fraud claim

Last week Mr Justice Edwin Johnson handed down judgment in Umbrella Care Ltd (in Liquidation) v Nisa & Ors [2022] EWHC 3139 (Ch). The claim, brought by an ‘umbrella’ payroll company in liquidation against its former directors and their associated companies, related to a labour supply fraud by which very substantial sums of unpaid taxes were alleged to have been misappropriated from the Claimant. HMRC’s final proof of debt in the liquidation was in excess of £35 million. Partial summary judgment was given in respect of liability in the Claimant’s claims for breach of duty and knowing receipt against certain of the Defendants in January 2022. The most recent judgment deals with, amongst other things, quantum in relation to those claims. Judgment was given against the primary director, the Second Defendant, in the sum of £21.8 million (the total HMRC debt less realisations) and the Judge found that he had deliberately misled the court. Judgment was also given against four other defendants for sums ranging between £491,000 and £17.4 million.  

The full judgment is available here. 

Anna Lintner acted for the Claimant, led by Christopher Brockman and instructed by Wedlake Bell LLP.