Rogue former Rangers owner Craig Whyte is today accused of key involvement in a business that encourages struggling firms to dodge their debts amid coronavirus.
Banned director Whyte appears to go to great lengths to disguise his involvement in parasitic Fortress Restructuring, which is cashing in on the pandemic through other people’s misery.
But a Record investigation has revealed overwhelming evidence that he is central to the morally bankrupt business, answering phones, arranging meetings and laying down the fine detail of the immoral transactions he claims he can quickly set up.
Whyte’s role will enrage Rangers fans, who were appalled when he used the same deceitful and destructive tactics as he brought the club to its knees in 2012.
Fortress Restructuring brazenly offers, for a fee, to take firms through the sordid process of asset stripping and folding failing companies to avoid debts.
A linked website, Rescue Capital, offers to do the same for London directors.
It advises clients to keep taking in cash from creditors until the death and tells them how to avoid paying
redundancy money to “past their sell-by date” employees.
Our probe involved recording phone conversations with a man who claimed to be “Tom” after answering the Fortress Restructuring phone.
Whyte’s dad Tom, 73, is the sole director of Fortress – but he sounds nothing like the voice on the tape, who told our undercover reporter he would appoint an insolvency practitioner “who is friendly, who is onside and who would protect you effectively”.
When we took the two audio recordings, which are presented on the Daily Record’s website today, to a top UK phonetics expert, he agreed with the strong suspicions that it was Craig Whyte offering the services – and not his dad.
Former Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston, who effectively handed over the reins of power to Whyte after he bought a controlling share in the club for 1p in 2011, emphatically believes the voice on the tape to be Whyte.
Johnston said: “I listened and there’s absolutely no question that it’s definitely Craig Whyte.
“It was in how he said it, where he said it, in the form he did, his characterisations of everything, the way he highlights and fast-finishes sentences.
“Everything was Craig Whyte – it brought back horrible memories.”
He added: “I don’t know if he has kept within the law or not, but the thinly disguised villainy that he was trying to convince you to accept would be consistent with his previous practice, and other potential victims need to be warned to be on their guard.”
A prominent Scottish insolvency practitioner said the Fortress site’s encouragement of directors to cheat creditors out of funds is something that should be investigated.
He said: “An investigation by the Insolvency Service would certainly be justified here, as the language is encouraging irresponsible behaviour by directors.
“It leaves them open to possible criminal and personal liability for failing to act in the interests of creditors at a time when their company is struggling and cannot pay its debts.”
Laying down “10 Things Businesses Affected by Coronavirus Meltdown Must Do”, the Fortress Restructuring site encourages bosses to fold firms to dodge paying redundancy money to employees.
It says the business can keep trading after the process with the same name.
It states: “We are a team of entrepreneurs and former insolvency practitioners. We have lived and breathed insolvency for years.”
The firm uses pre-registered “aged” companies and “nominee directors” to sneakily divert assets and allow all debt to die with any struggling “oldco”.
The site promises: “If it’s structured carefully you might even be able to collect your old debts while having little in the way of creditors to pay out. Imagine no more VAT, PAYE or creditors for the next two to three months while your customers continue to pay you as normal.”
It asks: “Are you getting hounded by creditors? Do you have a big VAT or tax bill that you can’t pay?
“We can help you set up a new company to legally buy the assets of your old, struggling company.
“You can have a fresh start as a debt-free business. You can legally leave behind tax debts, disputed creditors and legal actions. You may even be able to get rid of past their sell-by date employees without paying redundancy.”
The approach reveals utter contempt for creditors, stating: “Our team will deal with all the crap that you don’t have the time or inclination to deal with.
“We will speak to HMRC and explain that the company is no longer trading. We will write to the company’s creditors, explain what has happened. We will deal with legal threats and writs.”
Fortress advises clients to avoid lawyers or insolvency practitioners, saying: “An insolvency practitioner is never on your side. He is on the side of your creditors. He will be heavily influenced by large creditors like HMRC.
“He will seem friendly until you appoint him but there is a very real danger that he’ll turn out to be your worst enemy.
“Our team, which includes lawyers, ex insolvency practitioners and people like you who have been through this before, can help with these matters better than anybody else.”
The Record has sent details of the Fortress Restructuring site and the recordings to Insolvency Service investigators.
An Insolvency Service spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have been passed information regarding the activities of a previously banned director, which we will now consider.”
The Record phoned the mobile number provided after our call to Fortress, which was answered by Tom Whyte.
We explained that we hoped to speak to his son about allegations that he is running the business.
Tom hung up and we received no call back from Whyte.
