English Man Gets Prison Time After Spending Covid Loan on Crypto and Gambling

The head of a rural English glass-fitting company has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison, after illegally using a Covid-19-era loan from the government on gambling and crypto.

Haralambos Ioannou, of Cow Lane, Edlesborough, was sentenced this week to 22 months in custody and 150 hours of unpaid labor for illegally securing two £50,000 (about $66,500) Covid Bounce Back loans from the British government, and then using the second loan for personal expenditures.

During Covid, businesses were only permitted to receive one such payment. Ioannou managed to get approved for two Bounce Back loans in the summer of 2020.

While he properly used the first £50,000 to fund his glass-fitting company, also known as a glazing firm, he then used the second payment on crypto investments, gambling sites, cash withdrawals, and payments to his now ex-wife.

Ioannou was also ordered today to pay £40,000 (about $53,200) in restitution.

The UK Insolvency Service, which handles financial misconduct, did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment asking whether Ioannou’s required unpaid work will consist of glazing or another form of labor.

It also did not clarify which crypto apps or specific tokens the 49 year-old glazer invested his ill-gotten funds in. Approximately £8,000 ($10,650) of the loan money was transferred to “investment and crypto investment” companies, according to the Insolvency Service.

Another £25,000 ($33,250) was sent to gambling companies.

During the lockdown heyday of 2020, the decentralized finance ecosystem exploded, with the value of funds locked in the ecosystem growing more than 20 times over. Bitcoin doubled in price by year’s end; Ethereum more than quadrupled.