Umbrella bosses banged up for VAT payroll fraud
Three members of the Copp family, who ran umbrella payroll company Quality Premier Services (QPS) based in Rickmansworth, previously Central Payroll Specialists (CPS), have been handed a combined prison sentence of 27 ½ years for defrauding HMRC of more than £45 million in VAT.
QPS provided payroll services to recruitment agencies, processing the wages of thousands of temporary workers. The VAT charged to those recruitment companies however was not passed on to HMRC. Instead, it was used to fund the luxury lifestyles of the miscreant trio.
During the three year period September 2012 – September 2015, just under £4 million in VAT had been paid, leaving an estimate of just under £46 million going awry.
The fraud came to light following information that was passed to Essex Police, resulting in an investigation led by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, with the assistance of HMRC’s Criminal Taxes Unit.
Enquiries led officers to Joshua Copp who, despite his bank accounts being credited with £11.9 million between 2011 – 2015, had only declared his income as £19,256 for the tax years between 2010 – 2015 on which he had not paid income tax.
Copp owned a fleet of luxury vehicles which included a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, a Lamborghini Aventador, a Bentley Continental, Rolls Royce Wraith and a Rolls Royce Ghost.
During a search of his home in May 2015 police found a receipt for two seats for the Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao boxing match at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, each costing £10,000, as well as a receipt for a £26,064 bar bill at the Rose club in Marylebone, London, where he left a £4,000 tip. He was also in the process of buying a £4.25 million property in Barnet.
On Copp’s mobile phone, police officers found a photo of a notepad showing calculations of how the VAT fraud was worked out and then split between him and his father, Geoffrey, and his uncle, Andrew. The original notebook was later found at his desk at QPS.
Whilst searching Geoffrey Copp’s property in Stanmore, police found £55,000 cash hidden in various places, including inside a Bentley GTC Convertible on the driveway. He also owned another mortgage-free property in the same area as well as a property in Malaga.
Between 2013 – 2015, he had purchased three Bentley Continentals for cash.
Just like his son, Geoffrey Copp, paid no income tax between 2009 – 2015.
Andrew Copp had five mortage-free properties in the UK and one in Malaga, numerous luxury cars, and owned several Rolex watches and works of art. Unlike his brother and nephew, he did actually pay nearly £16,000 in tax between 2009 – 2015.
Geoffrey (55), set up the payroll companies and the fraud mechanism. His son, Joshua (24), despite having little previous work experience, played an administrative role and doled out the proceeds. Andrew (51) and brother of Geoffrey, became the director of QPS when the majority of VAT was being embezzled.
As part of their deception, the criminal trio told recruitment agencies:
“We believe that compliance and professionalism should lie at the heart of all business dealings.
[But] the real value of our service comes from our extensive experience in the contracting sector, our forward thinking approach and our flexible attitude to processes and systems.”
They certainly had a flexible attitude when it came to VAT!
In March 2016, all three were charged with conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and conspiring to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property.
Speaking after the trial, Detective Chief Inspector Josie Hayes of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said:
“Geoffrey, Andrew and Joshua Copp conducted a highly organised payroll fraud on a scale never before seen in the UK.
“They shamelessly took money destined for the public purse to fill their own wallets and brazenly fund extravagant lifestyles, which were beyond the means of many, including the workers whose wages they managed.
This was unknown to the many hard-working temp staff whose wages they managed and the recruitment agencies who entrusted the Copps to manage payrolls and paid fees for those services.”
Wow peadophiles and murderers get less sentence, but don’t you dare defraud HMRC!
Wonder where all the tax money goes anyway as this country is falling apart.