Man sentenced after going on luxury shopping spree with hmrc money

THE BUSINESSMAN SOLD HIS HOUSE AND SPENT THE THOUSANDS HE OWED IN VAT 11:08, 20 May 2025Updated 11:09, 20 May 2025 A former Chinese takeaway owner who used HMRC money to go on a luxury

shopping spree has been sentenced after the authorities caught up with him. Zhang Jin Chen was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday. He was given a 12-month prison sentence,

suspended for 18 months. He will also need to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation activity. All this for what the chief investigator dubbed an intentional act to

conceal his affairs and defraud HMRC. A string of events in 2020 kicked off when HMRC visited Chen’s Chinese takeaway, Fortune House. The takeaway had been registered as a business with HMRC

since February 2012. However, officials found that Fortune House should also have been registered for VAT since December 2012. A few months later, Chen and his then-wife sold their

Portsmouth home. Chen reportedly knew he owed HMRC more than £43,000 in VAT on the sale, but didn’t make an effort to pay his dues. Instead, the 51-year-old went on a luxury shopping spree.

He made two major withdrawals of £30,000 in November 2020. Chen also spent more than £3,500 on Apple products and also racked up a £880 bill from Burberry days before Christmas. Over the

next two months he blasted through £107,550 from the sale of his home before filing for bankruptcy the next summer. He admitted then that he knew he owed HMRC £43,876. However, Chen said he

could not repay this debt. He claimed to only have £20 in his bank account and £100 in cash at the time. He signed a five-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking in March 2022, restricting

him from being able to borrow more than £500 without disclosing his bankrupt status. The restrictions also prevent him from holding certain roles in public organisations. The Insolvency

Service is looking to recover the funds. Mark Stephens, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Zhang Jin Chen had the money available to pay the VAT he owed to HMRC twice over

following the sale of his house, but chose not to do so. “Instead, he withdrew huge sums of money in cash and made purchases from the likes of Burberry and Apple. Individuals who are

declared bankrupt commit a criminal offence when they put assets out of the reach of creditors in the five years leading up to their bankruptcy. Article continues below “Chen clearly

intended to conceal his affairs and defraud HMRC so he could be more than £100,000 better off, instead of little over £60,000 if he had paid his debts.”