The boss of a rogue publisher who charged clients £74,000 for adverts which never appeared in his magazine has been banned for 11 years. Alan Peterson, from Liverpool, was the director of Sage Media National Limited which 'unscrupulously targeted' customers, using 'aggressive' sales tactics to secure cash for the phony adverts.
Its 'duplicitous activities' included 'deluding' clients into thinking one of its magazine had more than 10,000 readers when it was in fact only sent to about 50 people, mainly from the West Midlands, Birmingham Live reported. The 59-year-old's firm also failed to keep company accounts up-to-date so investigators are still unsure why more than £32,000 was transferred to Peterson’s personal account.
The company began trading from January 2018 and had a contract to produce and distribute a magazine titled ‘Copperwheel’ on behalf of the West Midlands Police Motor Club. The magazine was published twice a year and Sage Media National Limited would cold call businesses to sell advertising in the magazine.
