A former QPR footballer has been banned from being a company director for eight years after claiming a £25,000 Covid loan for his sports academy.
Kieron Minto-St.Aimie, who began his career as a striker at QPR before spells at Oxford United and Barnet, had claimed the loan for St Aimie’s Sports Academy which he opened in Brent after retiring.
But the 35-year-old overstated the academy’s turnover by £60,000 meaning it should have only been entitled to around £10,000 under the scheme designed to help small businesses survive the pandemic.
The elite football academy was well known in west London before it closed in January 2023, providing football coaching and mentoring to children and young people.
In the past, the academy had hosted free football sessions for teenagers to help tackle knife crime in London and signposted youngsters for professional clubs.
Mr Minto-St Aimie had opened the academy on Harlesden Road as its sole director in 2016.
The former footballer applied for the Covid Bounce Back loan in May 2020 saying that the company’s turnover was £100,000. It received nearly £15,000 more than was entitled under the scheme.
A judge at the Royal Courts of Justice disqualified Mr Minto-St.Aimie as a company director for eight years on December 6.
Elizabeth Pigney, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Kieron Minto-St.Aimie successfully applied for a Covid Bounce Back loan by overstating his company’s turnover.
“His eight-year disqualification should serve as a warning to others that the justice system will not allow business owners to make false declarations to obtain funds that were so crucially needed by other small and medium-sized businesses during the pandemic.”
