Four people connected to a Stoke-based haulage company stripped out its assets and diverted money to other accounts despite an injunction placed on the business to prevent them doing so.
The High Court this week ruled that Marcus Hughes, Tracy Greening, David Hughes and Daniel Clarke were involved in sidestepping the worldwide freezing order (WFO) placed on haulier Genesis (2014) in 2021.
Co-owner Marcus Hughes and five employees were jailed in 2023 after being found to be part of a criminal enterprise, which saw large sums of illegal cash transported across the UK and beyond. Hughes was given a 14-year jail term.
Genesis’ licence was revoked in 2021 and it entered liquidation the following year, but the court heard how those behind the company continued to make payments beyond what the WFO permitted and sought to redirect payments to other accounts.
In his judgment, Judge Mullen said: “Against a background of the company simply making payments in defiance of the WFO and seeking to divert monies to other accounts, and in the absence of any defence of the claim, I am satisfied that those behind the company carried on its business with intent to defraud the company’s creditors from at least the end of May 2021.
“The WFO had been served, the company’s business had been brought to an end by the decision of the traffic commissioner and those behind the company plainly wished to extract the value of the assets.”
The judge added that the evidence suggested that Marcus Hughes remained the controlling mind of Genesis and others acted on his instructions:
“He was, by the time of the service of the WFO, in prison awaiting trial but, given his involvement in the company management up until that point, it is likely that he continued to exercise control over the company through and with his partner, Ms Greening, and his brother, Mr David Hughes,” he said.
A further hearing will determine the contributions, interest and costs owed by the defendants.
Nicholas Plant and Helen Walker were both cleared of involvement.
