Boris Becker has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison in relation to the four criminal charges he was convicted of under the Insolvency Act 1986. 

On 8 April 2022, following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, former tennis player Boris Becker was convicted of four counts against the Insolvency Act 1986 (the IA 1986). Mr Becker was subsequently sentenced to two and a half years in prison on 29 April 2022.  

The Bankruptcy

In a recent judgment, the English Court of Appeal gives guidance on when a non-party costs order will be made against directors or shareholders of an insolvent company engaged in litigation. The judgment will be of interest to all involved in insolvency based litigation.

A snap shot of the courts’ jurisdiction to make costs orders against non-parties

An interview with Mark Byers, Partner and Head of Strategic Relationships, Grant Thornton

What insolvency trends were you seeing before the pandemic?

As the measures in the UK designed to protect businesses from insolvency draw to an end, what guidance can be taken from Australia where similar measures ended a few months ago?

Given the global pandemic, it's somewhat unsurprising that the UK's loss of access to the EU Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (EUIR) has received relatively little press.

After all, what with the state support of furlough and loan schemes along with the temporary suspension of winding up petitions and wrongful trading rules, as well as the ban on landlords evicting commercial tenants formal insolvencies in the UK have "just dried up" says HFW fraud and insolvency co-head Rick Brown.

What were the main insolvency and restructuring trends you were seeing pre-pandemic?

Few things go together as naturally as fraud and insolvency. The pattern is now well rehearsed: scams pile up unnoticed while money flows in the good times, but when recession hits, increased scrutiny from lenders, counterparties and the tax man – not to mention insolvency practitioners – means fraud is far more likely to be discovered.

The UK’s new “restructuring plan” was enacted in June 2020.¹ This highly-anticipated regime introduced (for the first time into English law) a tongue twisting “cross-class cram down” (CCCD) mechanism by which a restructuring plan can (at the court’s discretion) be imposed on an entire class of dissenting creditors or members.

Until recently, only two companies had successfully used the restructuring plan regime.² In both instances, CCCD was not considered as the required voting thresholds (i.e. 75%) were met.

This briefing looks at the measures being taken by the Singapore government to support businesses and meet the challenges posed by Covid-19, with the introduction of the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 (the Act)¹, and the Registrar's Circular No, 4 of 2020: Updates on Measures Relating to Covid-19², focussing on: