By Callum Cuddeford
A fraudster, Gerald Smith, who owes the government tens of millions of pounds, has been jailed for defrauding taxpayers during the pandemic to cover legal costs. Smith, 67, from Bloomsbury, London, was found guilty of using a fraudulent Covid bounce-back loan to pay for his legal fees linked to a £72 million confiscation order.
Smith had already served two prison sentences for fraud. On Friday, September 20, 2024, at Southwark Crown Court, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail after years of avoiding prison time for failing to repay the £72 million order. The confiscation order followed his conviction for a £34 million dotcom fraud in 2007, which was one of the largest criminal confiscation orders at the time.
In 2022, Smith avoided prison when he was handed a suspended sentence after breaching a court order preventing him from spending or accessing his assets. It was revealed that Smith had opened undeclared bank accounts to fund lavish spending, including dinners at expensive West End restaurants and parties.
Smith’s latest conviction stems from fraudulently obtaining a £50,000 Covid loan in September 2020. He claimed the loan was needed for his business, Arcana Solutions Ltd, but instead used it to pay legal costs related to ongoing litigation over his assets. Fraud investigators uncovered that Smith paid £25,000 into an account controlled by his associate, Sinead Irving, who transferred £22,000 into her personal account, which was then used to pay off part of the outstanding confiscation order.
