Michael Anthony Joyce, director of a cheque converting business, has been disqualified for laundering cheques for rogue builders and for taking in a cheque from a client when his business was already insolvent and unlikely to honour the cheque.
Mr Joyce, 72, from Wimbledon in south London, has given an undertaking not to act as a company director from 3 June 2013 until June 2025.
Mr Joyce admitted that he had cashed cheques for a group of rogue builders totalling at least £224,631. These builders targeted elderly home-owners, cold calling them and offering free inspections of the paintwork on exterior walls of their homes. They then damaged the fabric of the walls in the course of these inspections and charged the residents significant sums of money to repair the damage.
Mr Joyce cashed the cheques that the builders took from these vulnerable customers but failed to carry out proper background checks, including checking any identification from the builders, so there is little prospect now of tracking down these funds to return to the customers.
Mr Joyce also admitted he had taken in a £19,600 cheque from a member of the public at a time when he knew the Chequechange was insolvent, so unlikely to honour it. This led to the victim suffering a £16,080 loss.
Chequechange Ltd, went into liquidation on 20 October 2011 with debts of close to £2 million.
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