Ex Embassy Racing Team Owner and team Principal Jonathan France (above), together with ex team driver and team manager Jody Firth and PR manager Myles Schofield have all been handed substantial prison sentences following a long investigation, and subsequent court case brought by the UK Government’s insolvency Service.

Embassy Racing and its successors ran a variety of GT, LMP2 and CN cars in the British GT Championship, Le Mans Series, Speed Euroseries, FIA GT (including the 2005 Spa 24 Hours) and raced their in-house designed and built WF01 LMP2 car at the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours.

The three were charged with a variety of offences relating to avoidance of insolvency legislation designed to protect company creditors with France found to have acted fraudulently on a number of occasions to actively deceive the Insolvency Service who were attempting to recover assets from him to repay creditors following the collapse of a number of businesses.

France was also charged with offences relating to his continuing to act as a Company Director and to operate businesses despite being debarred from doing so as a bankrupt.

Jonathan France pleaded guilty to four counts of fraudulently transferring property, three counts of acting as a director while bankrupt, as well as one count each for failing to disclose property to the Official Receiver or Trustee, perjury, fraudulent trading, false accounting and money laundering.

Jody Firth pleaded guilty to helping Jonathan France run a company despite being a bankrupt, while both Jody Firth and Graham Schofield pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Jonathan France was sentenced to 10 years, as well as being disqualified as a company director for 12 years.

Jody Firth was sentenced for 5 years and 4 months, while Graham Myles Schofield received a sentence of 2 years and 6 months. Jody Firth was also disqualified as a company director for 5 years and Graham Schofield was banned from running companies for 3 years.

Insolvency Service Press Release >>