Press release: Director fakes own death in an attempt to avoid disqualification

Bradley Trevor Silver, also known as Bradley Silva, has been disqualified from acting as a director for 14 years, beginning 2 November.

In the days prior to the disqualification hearing, the Insolvency Service’s lawyers were contacted by “Adam Solomans”, who claimed to be a friend of Silver’s, informing them that Silver had committed suicide. However, “Adam Solomans”’ name and signature both featured on a cheque paid into 24/7 London’s bank account which had bounced. In addition he appeared to have shared a mobile telephone number with Silver – who he insisted had died in a car crash – and he stopped responding to emails.

In her Judgement, Registrar Derrett said that she did not accept that Mr Silver had died, and that, in all probability Mr Silver and Mr Solomans were one and the same.

Silver was the sole director of 24/7 London, a sham company wound up in the Public Interest by the Insolvency Service in September 2016. His company contacted various editing and production with forged documents claiming it had worked on contracts on a number of TV shows including Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent, X-Factor, and The Only Way is Essex.

He also approached a number of banks and credit institutions seeking credit on the back of fictional accounts, and also using forged documents and invoices.

Silver even filed fictitious accounts on behalf of 24/7 London, claiming turnover of £4.7 billion and assets of £2.4 billion, stated to have been audited by Deloitte LLP. Insolvency Service investigators found that Deloitte LLP had not in fact audited the accounts, which in any event contained basic errors. This included presenting numbers in billions, as Silver had headed columns “£’000” by accident, unwittingly inflating figures by a factor of 1,000.

Commenting on the disqualification, Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

This is one of the more bizarre cases of dishonesty and misuse of Limited Liability I have ever come across.

That Mr Silver appears to have tried to fake his own death through suicide in order to avoid disqualification is disgraceful. Directors should be aware that the Insolvency Service will not shy away from confronting dishonesty and removing these people from the marketplace.

Notes to editors

Bradley Trevor Silver, (also known as Bradley Silva), date of birth, March 1968, was registered with Companies House as the sole director of 24/7 London at all times. He was disqualified from acting as a director or being concerned in the promotion, formation or management of a company for a period of 14 years on 11 October 2017. The period of disqualification will commence on 2 November 2017.

24/7 London (GRP) Ltd (Company Registration No. 08225516) was incorporated on 24 September 2012.

24/7 London was wound up in the Public Interest pursuant to an order made on 6 September 2016 under section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986, on the petition of the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills (as was) and following an investigation by Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service.

At the time of its liquidation, 24/7 London’s Registered Office address was Suite 157 Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BD, being a virtual office facility provider.

24/7 London’s only known debts in liquidation relate to a bank overdraft of £15,705.

Silver was also ordered to pay the Secretary of State’s costs of £6,721.74.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

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