Tyneside pizza boss jailed after gambling with money from £150,000 Covid loan fraud
Fraudster obtained three Bounce Back Loans when businesses were only allowed one
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Matthew Temple obtained three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for the same Whitley Bay pizza business
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More than £131,000 of the £150,000 was not used wholly for business purposes, including money spent on gambling and children’s toys
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Temple was jailed for two years after admitting three fraud offences
A Tyneside pizza company boss who fraudulently secured £150,000 in Covid loans before company funds were spent on gambling and children’s toys has been jailed.
Matthew Temple obtained three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for Pizza Cottage (Whitley Bay) Limited, which traded as Pizza Cottage on East Parade in Whitley Bay.
The 44-year-old, known as Mehdi Ghaneh-Keisami when the offences were committed, secured all three loans in a little over a month during the pandemic.
This was despite businesses being entitled to only one Bounce Back Loan.
Temple, of Bank Court, North Shields, was jailed for two years when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday 23 October.
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
Matthew Temple exploited a taxpayer-backed scheme designed to help businesses through the pandemic by obtaining three £50,000 loans when his company was entitled to only one.
Company funds were then spent on gambling and even children’s toys and play equipment, despite Temple declaring the money would be used for the benefit of his business.
Temple is now beginning a two-year prison sentence, but our work does not stop at securing a conviction. We are also seeking to recover the money he fraudulently obtained and return funds to the public purse.
Pizza Cottage (Whitley Bay) Limited was incorporated in June 2016 with Temple as its sole director.
Temple secured the first £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in May 2020, shortly after the scheme launched.
Just three days later, he applied for a second £50,000 loan, falsely declaring that it was the company’s only application under the scheme.
Temple secured a third £50,000 loan the following month after again falsely declaring that it was the company’s only Bounce Back Loan application.
He also declared that the money would be used to benefit his business.
However, the Insolvency Service established that £131,419 of the £150,000 was not spent wholly for business purposes.
This included £11,090 spent across 46 gambling transactions from one of Pizza Cottage’s business accounts over less than two weeks in July 2020.
Investigators also found £264 was spent on children’s toys and play equipment on 7 May 2020, the day after the first £50,000 loan was paid into the company’s account.
When questioned about obtaining a second Bounce Back Loan despite already receiving one, Temple told investigators:
I know it was my fault, I shouldn’t… I should tell them it was my second, but they didn’t check it either.
Temple pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court in September this year.
He had previously been disqualified as a company director for 12 years in 2024 following civil investigations into his conduct by the Insolvency Service.
Further information
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Matthew Temple is of Bank Court, North Shields, Tyneside. His date of birth is 15 August 1982
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Pizza Cottage (Whitley Bay) Limited (company number 10247689)
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Directors can find information about their obligations and responsibilities at the Insolvency Service’s Director Information Hub
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