The artist behind the iconic McCoo artwork said he is bankrupt after the business went bust over £1million of unpaid debt.
Dozens of staff and suppliers lost thousands of pounds between them when Ayr-based Steven Brown Art Limited shut up shop.
But Brown, the painter who created the colourful artwork, is back working for a new firm which bought the rights to his images.
The 49-year-old said he had done nothing wrong and the former business, which had an £11million turnover, had made mistakes and overstretched itself.
He said: “I’m just trying to keep the art alive. I don’t give a crap about money. It’s for the fans who love my paintings.”
Days before his firm’s implosion, the “McCoo rights” were sold to new owners who’ve made Brown and wife Caroline their two sole employees.
New financial documents for the defunct firm show liquidators flogged a company van for £11,500 to try to cover bills.
But it wasn’t enough to pay the huge amount of debt which left workers out of pocket by more than £27,000.
The taxman lost nearly £62,000 and unsecured creditors – thought to be suppliers and other businesses – won’t be paid the £912,000 they are owed.
Brown, who is recovering from a stroke, said: “We overstretched ourselves. This is going back two-and-a-half years and I don’t think we owed any staff anything so these figures are new to me.
“We owed a lot of money to one supplier but I thought the figure was around £750,000. Staff were paid weekly and they all got a week’s notice.
“I am bankrupt now. We spent a lot of money on things that didn’t work like the gallery and things like kids’ books, which cost a fortune. That’s what put us in trouble.”
The growth of the firm had been as spectacular as the kaleidoscope images of shaggy cows the former fast food boss created.
The dad-of-three had only picked up a paintbrush in 2010 after a heart attack forced him to stay home from his job at KFC.
But his art was quickly in high demand and old schoolmate Craig Bryson persuaded Brown to open a business that not only sold paintings for about £4000 but prints and knick-knacks emblazoned with the work.
The rights of the artwork are now in the hands of DGD Trading Limited, owned by David Cordy, 45. The website is selling everything from calendars to phone cases and mouse mats.
The liquidation of the business cost 21 workers their jobs.
Paperwork reveals staff and the Redundancy Payments Service put in claims for over £12,000 with liquidator Arvinder Singh, of London-based FRP Advisory.
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