As Robert Burns wrote, freedom and whisky may ‘gang thegither’ but it is fraud and wine making a fine pairing in the news recently by way of two separate examples of dishonest wine investment schemes.

Global Wine Exchange Limited

The first concerns Global Wine Exchange Limited (“Global”), which was wound-up in the public interest on 22 March 2022 following abuse of more than £1.9m of clients’ funds in a wine investment scheme.

It is an unfortunate reality that the number of insolvencies in the construction sector seems certain to rise in coming months as the economic impact of COVID-19 takes effect. In this context, the recent Supreme Court decision in Bresco Electrical Services Ltd (In Liquidation) v Michael J Lonsdale (Electrical) Ltd [2020] UKSC 25 is particularly relevant.

This case concerned important questions regarding the compatibility of two statutory regimes: