Directors of Handmade Film Company Disqualified

The directors of Handmade Limited, a film company, have been disqualified for a total of 22.5 years after misleading investors and leading them them losing millions. The judge in the case called the event a “lack of candour” by the directors, and are now unable to act as the director of a limited company as a result of the disqualification.

Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Mr Patrick Anthony Meehan has received a ban for 13 years, David Bernard Ravden has been banned for five and a half years whilst Peter William Parkinson is under the disqualification for four years.

Handmade Limited, the company in which the dodgy investing had taken place, was a film production and international rights company formerly known as Handmade Plc.

The company was put into administration on 11 July 2012 and entered liquidation on 24 April the following year.

The three men had principal director and shareholder roles that controlled information surrounding the company’s affairs. The investigation discovered that the men involved had failed to stop the following incidents from occurring:

• Obtaining a $5m funding for a film project that had previously been cancelled, and using the money to pay off relatives of one director. The investor company invested the money into a special-purpose vehicle yet the star of the film had subsequently been injured, so the project could not go ahead.
• Disclosing all debts in an AIM prospectus to raise $17m, then expended the money on undisclosed to advisers, potential investors or shareholders.

As a result of the disqualification, neither three of the directors are able to act as the director of a limited company until their ban period has been completed. They are also unable to partake in the management, formation or promotion of a company, or be the receiver of a company’s property.