Faruk Chowdhury

Introduction

Faruk Chowdhury is a Birmingham company director who was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years, at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday 28 July 2026 after fraudulently obtaining £37,500 in Covid support for a company that never genuinely traded. As sole director of Learn & Earn Ltd, he secured a £35,000 Bounce Back Loan and a £2,500 top-up by falsely claiming his company had a turnover of £150,000, then moved the money to his personal bank accounts within days and used it to pay off his own debts. The 45-year-old was also ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work, and the Insolvency Service is now working to recover the fraudulently obtained funds.

Background Information

Chowdhury was the sole director of Learn & Earn Ltd, a company established in February 2020, just weeks before the pandemic began. The company described its trading on Companies House as “repair of computers and peripheral equipment”, and records list it under company number 12486292. On paper, then, it looked like exactly the kind of small technology business the Bounce Back Loan Scheme was created to carry through the crisis. In reality, banking records would later show, the company had no genuine trading activity before or after receiving the money, and it never filed accounts or submitted tax returns.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted; sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 28 July 2026 for fraudulently obtaining Covid support for a company that never traded. The court outcome stands against Chowdhury’s own account, given in interview, that the business had generated income and that he needed the loans for legitimate purposes.

In December 2020, Chowdhury secured the £35,000 Bounce Back Loan from a bank by fraudulently claiming his business had a turnover of £150,000 and that the funds would be used wholly for business purposes. Within days of receiving the loan, he transferred £25,000 to his personal bank account, with the remaining £10,000 following in early January 2021. He obtained a £2,500 top-up to the loan in February 2021, providing the same £150,000 turnover figure and again falsely declaring the money would be used for business purposes; the £2,500 was transferred to his personal account within days.

Chowdhury claimed in interviews that the company had generated income and that he had used the funds to purchase computer equipment and pay himself as the sole employee. He alleged his business had been impacted by the pandemic and that he needed the loans to obtain premises and consolidate his personal debts due to a poor credit rating. Banking records told a different story: no genuine trading activity, no payments to any computer supplier, and a company that never filed accounts or submitted tax returns. The Insolvency Service’s published account of the case records both his explanations and the financial evidence that contradicted them.

Public Reaction and Consequences

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said Chowdhury had exploited a government scheme designed to support legitimate businesses through an unprecedented crisis. Chowdhury, he said, made “false declarations about his company’s turnover and business activities”, “knowing full well that the funds would be used to settle his personal debts rather than support any genuine trading”. Snasdell added that Bounce Back Loans were “a vital lifeline for small businesses during the pandemic” and that those who abused the scheme “undermined public confidence in government support”, noting the Insolvency Service remains committed to investigating and prosecuting those who fraudulently obtained the loans.

The commercial consequences had already landed before the criminal case concluded. Learn & Earn Ltd entered liquidation in April 2021, and Chowdhury was disqualified as a director for nine years in January 2022 as a result of his misconduct at the company. On top of the suspended sentence, the July 2026 hearing added a 250-hour unpaid work requirement, and the Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Current Status

Chowdhury’s 22-month prison sentence is suspended for two years, meaning he remains free so long as he complies with the court’s requirements, and he must complete 250 hours of unpaid work. His nine-year disqualification, imposed in January 2022, keeps him out of company management until 2031. The Insolvency Service’s recovery work under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is ongoing, with the funds obtained through the two fraudulent declarations still being pursued. Any breach of the suspended sentence or the disqualification restrictions could bring the matter back before the courts.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case ended Chowdhury’s involvement with Learn & Earn Ltd in all but name long before the sentencing hearing: the company he founded weeks before the pandemic was in liquidation by April 2021, having never traded genuinely, and his nine-year ban has kept him from acting as a director since January 2022. The criminal conviction now sits alongside the disqualification, with a suspended prison sentence, an unpaid work order and a live attempt to claw back the £37,500 through POCA powers. For a business registered to repair computers that never paid a computer supplier, the gap between the company’s stated purpose and its actual use — as a conduit for £37,500 in pandemic support to settle personal debts — became the defining fact of the case against him.

Sources

• GOV.UK, “Birmingham fraudster secured Covid support for company which never traded” — source