A care home boss who took more than £80million from investors, is under investigation for fraud, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said.
Entrepreneur Gavin Woodhouse, who owned a string of UK hotels and care homes until they went into administration in 2019, took millions from investors over a six year period – money which later disappeared.
The investigation will now look at whether the investments he offered between 2013 and 2019 were genuine.
At the time, the businessman said the cash would be used to build care homes and buy and refurbish hotels.
He gave investors the chance of buying a room in a care home, a hotel or another form of holiday accommodation.
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He typically promised 10 yearly dividends of about 10% - paid out of the rent the room would generate - plus a commitment to buy the room back after a decade at 125% of the purchase price.
He also said they could stay in the rooms for two weeks every year.
But an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News into the scheme in 2019 revealed that many of Mr Woodhouse's projects were incomplete, while his firms were severely in debt.
That led to some of Mr Woodhouse's creditors taking him to court in the summer of 2019.
A high court judge put the businesses into administration ruling that Mr Woodhouse's business model appeared to be "thoroughly dishonest" and a "shameful abuse of the privileges of limited liability trading".
The SFO has now it "is investigating suspected fraud and money laundering” in relation to Mr Woodhouse’s investments.
It has asked investors into the suspected fraudulent schemes to complete a questionnaire by 30 September.
It said the information provided "will help us to establish the circumstances of the investments offered, to identify and pursue new information, and to progress the investigation as quickly as possible".
The SFO said it "is committed to supporting victims and invites those who believe they have been a victim in connection with this investigation to check this page for updates and information on support services.
"The administrators/liquidators will assess the company's assets, undertake all appropriate recovery actions and distribute any monies to creditors in accordance with their statutory duties, as regards the respective administrations/liquidations."
It added: "If we obtain convictions and compensation is appropriate and possible, we will seek to return monies to victims."
