A former managing director abused his position to spend more than £70,000 of company cash on a sham life of luxury.
Kirk Whitehead used a false CV to gain a top job at a Bolton electrical firm before using aliases to set up new businesses and building up contacts to gain further work, Stafford Crown Court heard.
The 41-year-old then conned those companies out of tens of thousands of pounds through business expenses - funding a lavish lifestyle including luxury holidays, meals out at restaurants and a trip to York races.
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Whitehead, from Leeds, was eventually rumbled by Greater Manchester Police and sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday (November 11).
The court heard that Whitehead used a false CV to obtain a managing director job at Bolton-based electric supplies company Homespares back in August 2015, where he began to claim expenses he was not entitled to.
While working for he company, he not only used his business card to fund a life of luxury, but would then go on to claim the costs back for a second time by submitting the receipts as business expenses.
Between August 2015 and May 2017, Whitehead also set up multiple other companies which registered him as one of the owners, and used one of these on documents whilst representing Homespares.
Whitehead was found to have used aliases of Lawson and Lawson-Whitehead so he could go, detectives believe, undetected when setting up other businesses.
A theme of Whitehead's offending was to build up contacts while already in work so he could bypass the need for qualifications when going for high-profile roles.
He then went on to work for another Greater Manchester business called Qualtrex - which he had been in contact with while at Homespares - where he continued his fraudulent activity.
Following his employment with these two companies, Whitehead attempted to obtain further employment as a managing director by submitting another false CV which was almost successful, only for him to be caught out by the company before he started work.
When obtaining his next job at Nordic Lifts, police became aware of Whitehead after his malpractices were discovered by one of the previous companies he had set up following an internal investigation.
Despite this, he continued to commit fraud by submitting false expenses and retaining money in his bank account that belonged to the company.
Following a criminal investigation and court appearances for these offences, he again submitted a false CV to another party in a bid to try and secure further employment.
He was finally rumbled by detectives in GMP's economic and cyber crime unit.
Whitehead, of Kirkgate, Sherburn-in-Elmet, pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud by false representation relating to five companies and three counts of fraud by abuse of position in relation to one of these companies.
He was jailed for five years and banned as a company director for 12-and-a-half years.
Det Con Nicola Veitch Lancaster, of GMP's economic and cyber crime unit, said: "Kirk Whitehead's dreadful actions caused great distress to his victims. He caused a great deal of misery for so many people connected to the companies he conned, and threatened anyone who challenged him.
"Whitehead would worm his way in and leave behind a trail of destruction, and he has shown no remorse for the lives he has impacted.
"Even when he was under investigation, he found new employment and continued to commit fraud to benefit himself at the detriment of the companies he worked for.
"My sympathy goes out to his victims and I hope he spends his time behind bars reflecting on the awful consequences of his actions."
