TONY HETHERINGTON: The jailed boss… with two names

Tony Hetherington is the chief investigator for the Financial Mail on Sunday, fighting readers’ corners, uncovering the truth behind closed doors and winning victories for those left out of pocket. Learn how to contact him below.

Gallery Mode: John Sullivan

AT writes: I’m pretty sure Jonathan Piper, jailed for running Embassy Wine UK Ltd, is the same man as John Sullivan, now an adviser at Yield Gallery, an art investment company.

Piper cannot be a director of any company as he is disqualified.

Tony Hetherington replies: good done for spotting the striking resemblance between Mr. Piper and Mr. Sullivan. In 2016, Jonathan Piper, then 30, was jailed for five and a half years after pleading guilty to fraud, money laundering and tax fraud charges.

All the charges related to Embassy Wine UK Ltd, where Piper was the owner and sole director. After defrauding wine investors of £300,000, he tried to wind up the company without alerting its many creditors, but was blocked by investigators from the Insolvency Office and HMRC.

The Daily Mail reported at the time that much of Piper’s loot was splashed on luxury cars and hundreds of pairs of limited-edition sneakers. Piper was banned until 2026 from acting as a director of a company and from being involved in the promotion, creation or management of a company. Acting as a director while disqualified is a criminal offence.

And so for Mr Sullivan, who features prominently in an earnings gallery article on the Financial Times website. Described as the gallery’s creative director, he says: “More than ever, we are seeing huge attraction to the art market, particularly from sophisticated investors looking to diversify and de-risk their portfolios.”

Sullivan adds, “With our experience, we are able to advise, educate and help inspire new collectors and art enthusiasts looking for financial security.”

Now, despite the title, Sullivan is not the director of the Yield Gallery. But he is a director of two other companies – or rather was a director until The Mail on Sunday started this investigation and questioned him.

In November last year, he established YG Group Holdings Ltd, of which he is the owner and director. He described it as a retail art business. And in May this year he and a family member set up Jerry Peggy Ltd, a financial intermediary. Again, Sullivan is listed as the director. When he learned of this investigation, Sullivan resigned from both directorships.

Of course, all of this only matters if Piper and Sullivan are one and the same. The photos of the couple certainly look alike. But putting the identification beyond doubt are separate records showing that both Piper and Sullivan were born on the same day in 1986 and both used the same home address in Wanstead, East London.

I contacted Sullivan at the Yield Gallery and told him he had been recognized as a Piper by Embassy Wine UK. Sullivan’s lawyer told me: “He accepts that he is the person you referred to as Jonathan Piper and under that name he was convicted of certain offences, paid the penalty and was disqualified as a director in 2015. The disqualification ends in 2026 Mr. ‘

He added that Sullivan was “wrong to think there was a difference between being named as a director, on the one hand, and running a company as such”.

His lawyer emphasized that Sullivan had changed his name legally and had been completely honest with the Yield Gallery, which decided he had a chance to rebuild his life after prison. And that was no surprise. I had already discovered that Anthony Allen, another disqualified director, worked at the gallery.

Allen, now a salesman at the gallery, was banned by the High Court in 2016 from holding any directorship for the next 15 years. It followed an Insolvency Office investigation into his company Global Neutral Ltd, which offered investments in carbon credits.

Through its lawyer, Yield Gallery confirmed that Allen – like Sullivan – worked there, but said: “Yield Gallery is a legitimate commercial company with physical premises.”

Neither Allen nor Sullivan has any controlling role, the lawyer added.

If you think you are a victim of financial misconduct, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the high volume of inquiries, personal responses cannot be given. Please only send copies of original documents, which unfortunately cannot be returned.