Counterfeit watch dealer hit with bankruptcy restrictions
A convicted counterfeit watch dealer from Brighton has had his bankruptcy restrictions extended for eight years.
Jamie Paul Thorpe (35), of Brighton, has signed an eight-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking. It is the latest in a series of restrictions imposed upon Jamie Thorpe in connection with his trading as Ludgate Watches, a business that sold counterfeit luxury watches.
In June 2015, following a search of his property, West Sussex Trading Standards seized a range of goods, including watches, which Jamie Thorpe valued at £100,000 in total. The watches, when examined by the original manufacturers later, were all confirmed to be counterfeit.
Jamie Thorpe was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 2 years, for trade mark offences and, later, a £28,000 confiscation order following a Proceeds of Crime investigation. He was also made bankrupt for failing to pay the correct taxes.
Bankruptcy restrictions are usually lifted after a year but, due to the seriousness of Jamie Thorpe’s offences, the Insolvency Service launched additional bankruptcy proceedings to curtail his activities further.
On 10 June 2019 the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted an eight-year bankruptcy restrictions undertaking from Jamie Paul Thorpe, of Brighton.
Effective immediately, Jamie Thorpe is under a number of restrictions, including not being able to borrow more than £500 without disclosing his bankrupt status and he cannot act as a company director without the court’s permission.
Liesl Cook, Official Receiver for the Insolvency Service, said:
Eight years of extended bankruptcy restrictions is a significant result. It serves as a clear warning to others attempting to deceive customers, whether online or in person, that, when you are caught, we will seriously curtail your activities.
Notes to Editors
Jamie Paul Thorpe is of Brighton and his date of birth is September 1983.
Detail of Jamie Paul Thorpe’s Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (BRO) and Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) is available on the Individual Insolvency Register.
Bankruptcy restrictions are wide ranging. The effects are the same whether you are subject to a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order or to an undertaking.
It is an offence if you:
- do not disclose your status as a person subject to bankruptcy restrictions to a credit provider if you wish to get credit of £500 or more.
- carry on business in a different name from the name in which you were made bankrupt, you must disclose to those you wish to do business with the name (or trading style) under which you were made bankrupt.
- act as the director of a company or take part in its promotion, formation or management unless you apply to the court for permission to do so.
- act as an insolvency practitioner, or as the receiver or manager of the property of a company on behalf of debenture holders.
Further guidance on the additional effects of a bankruptcy restrictions order or undertaking Persons subject to a BRO/BRU is available.
Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.
Contact Press Office
Press Office
16th Floor, 1 Westfield Ave
London
E20 1HZ
Email press.office@insolvency.gov.uk
Media Manager 0303 003 1743
This service is for journalists only. For any other queries, please contact the Insolvency Enquiry Line.
For all media enquiries outside normal working hours, please contact the Department for Business and Trade Press Office on 0207 215 2000.
You can also follow the Insolvency Service on: