The owner of Altrincham luxury furniture showroom Lusso Living has been convicted after admitting he fraudulently claimed more than £16,000 in Covid Support Grants.
Adam Aindow, 47, also admitted attempting to gain an additional Town Centre Loan of nearly £10,000 from Trafford Council.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Mr Aindow, from Calverleigh Close, Bolton, submitted applications to Trafford Council for Covid Business Support grants in 2021. These were in relation to premises he had leased on Stamford New Road in Altrincham.
When applying for the grants, which were provided to businesses who had been impacted by the restrictions placed on them during the Covid pandemic, Aindow claimed that his business, a luxury kitchen showroom, had been forced to close. In fact, the showroom had never been opened due to renovations being carried out, and it still hadn’t opened to the public more than a year after Covid restrictions were lifted.
Aindow also attempted to obtain a Town Centre Loan for £9,600 to pay for renovation work at the premises. However, the application was refused after it emerged that he had failed to declare that he already owed arrears of business rates to the Council.
After pleading guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing, he appeared in court again on Monday 20th October and was given a 20-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years.
He has also been ordered to undertake a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement, carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £3,000 towards the cost of the proceedings.
Aindow is also in the process of repaying all of the monies that were falsely obtained as a result of his fraudulent grant applications.
Sentencing him, Recorder Mark Rhind described Aindow’s actions as “rank dishonesty over an extended period involving multiple applications across the Council.”
A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: “Our Covid scheme supported hundreds of businesses who were struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. Trying to exploit the scheme is disgraceful. By obtaining funding, they could have deprived business owners of desperately-needed money.
“We will not put up with anyone trying to defraud the Council and our Council taxpayers out of their money.”
