Financier Lex Greensill banned from running UK companies for nine years

The disgraced former financier Lex Greensill has been banned from running a UK company for nine years after he was judged to be unfit because of the 2021 collapse of his £1.6bn supply chain invoicing firm. The government’s Insolvency Service said on Thursday that Greensill had signed a disqualification undertaking, bringing the case to an end before a si week trial was due to begin on 8 June. He had previously sought to challenge the proceedings against him but a court ruled against his efforts in March. Greensill, a 49-year-old Australian former sugar farmer, had risen rapidly to prominence in the financial world by lending money to companies secured against unpaid invoices. Greensill Capital collapsed into administration in March 2021 with liabilities of more than £1.6bn. The subsequent political and financial scandal dragged in the former prime minister David Cameron, who had worked for the company, and the Japanese investor Masayoshi Son, whose Softbank backed the Greensill group. The Treasury select committee found in July 2021 that Cameron had shown a “significant lack of judgment” in lobbying for Greensill Capital to join a government coronavirus pandemic scheme in 2020, when it was starting to struggle. The Insolvency Service said Greensill breached his legal duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence as a company director, causing a loss of $440m to the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which was later rescued by its rival, UBS. Duncan Beach, the chief executive at the Insolvency Service, said: “Director disqualifications exist to protect the public from those who have demonstrated they are unfit to run companies. A nine-year ban is a significant period – above the average for director disqualifications – and reflects the serious nature of Lex Greensill’s conduct.” The Insolvency Service had sought to disqualify Greensill for as long as 15 years. Greensill’s disqualification related particularly to his company’s lending to Katerra, a US construction company. Funds controlled by Credit Suisse bought the loans, which were backed by insurance. However, Greensill directed his companies to enter transactions that removed legal protections from the loan notes, despite lacking the written consents required by law. Credit Suisse ended up losing its investment. A spokesperson for Lex Greensill said: “After four years of investigation, this matter has concluded with no finding that Mr Greensill acted dishonestly or in bad faith.” Greensill still faces a separate civil action by administrators for Greensill Capital (UK), in which he is named as a defendant. He was approached for comment on the civil case. The collapse of Greensill Capital also caused years of chaos for companies owned by Sanjeev Gupta’s Gupta Family Group (GFG) Alliance, which had relied heavily on Greensill financing. Gupta has since lost control of large parts of GFG’s Liberty Steel empire, including steelworks in South Yorkshire and Australia. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office in 2021 said it was investigating suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering in relation to the financing and conduct of the business of companies within GFG, including its financing arrangements with Greensill Capital (UK). Gupta and GFG have denied any wrongdoing.