Leave.EU goes into liquidation, leaving debt to data regulator
Bristol World reports:
Pro-Brexit lobby group Leave.EU has gone into liquidation with debts of more than £7m, documents submitted to Companies House show.
The body was co-founded by Arron Banks as a support group for Nigel Farage and his campaign to leave the European Union…
It made ‘serious breaches’ of electronic marketing laws by sending subscribers more than a million emails which included marketing for GoSkippy insurance brand.
Almost 300,000 emails containing a Leave.Eu newsletter were also sent to customers of the same company.
The group was subsequently fined £70,000 – and then lost an appeal against the fines last year.
Now it has emerged that the group, which was last registered to Henleaze Business Centre, has gone into liquidation owing a total £7.1m. That includes a £7m debt to Mr Banks, who loaned the group £6m… The group also owes £52,050 in fines to the [data regulator] Information Commissioners’ Office.
How very symbolic.
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How does this square with electoral law? And insolvency law?
Presumably Leave.EU has declared how it spent Arron Banks’ £7m to the Electoral Commission. Has it got any assets left?
But further, was there any foreseeable means by which Leave.EU could be expected to recover the £7m it spent on the Brexit campaign? Despite that, will Arron Banks try to or be able to declare the £7m as a tax-deductible business loss rather than an outright donation?
Those the Gods wish to destroy they first make MAD.