Charity wound up after boss spends donations on Range Rover
Written by News on 09/06/2019
A charity has been wound up after its boss spent donations on a Range Rover, his medical expenses, and his mortgage.
A High Court judge said there had been “failings (and) deficiencies” at Thrift Urban Housing, and de facto director Preston Lennox was “at the heart of all of them”.
Mr Lennox received payments totalling £119,650 via 36 cheques from the charity’s bank account, Judge Clive Jones said.
According to court documents, cheques and other documents were signed by Mr Lennox’s dead wife, while a £55,000 deposit was spent on a Range Rover for his use.
Another £117,256 was spent on Mr Lennox’s credit card, medical expenses, mortgage, buildings insurance, window cleaning and rent, the court judgment stated.
Mr Lennox admitted receiving £350,000 over nine years, but said the charity was never about providing money for him.
He claimed he was owed more than £500,000 in unclaimed wages, in addition to a £300,000 loan he had made to the charity, based on the King’s Road in London’s Chelsea.
After ordering the organisation to be wound up, Judge Jones commented: “The facts produce an unrelenting script of failings, deficiencies and defaults, and he (Mr Lennox) is at the heart of all of them.”
Head of the Charity Commission’s investigations team, Amy Spiller, said she welcomed the High Court’s decision, adding that “organisations that enjoy the privilege of charitable status should be run with probity and respect”.
She added: “Our inquiry has exposed a catalogue of failings in the running of this charity and so it is important that it will now be wound up and removed from the register of charities.
“We are clear that abuse of power for personal gain has no place in charity.”
(c) Sky News 2019: Charity wound up after boss spends donations on Range Rover
