Former cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins is reportedly at risk of bankruptcy after the liquidators of his company filed an update on winding up proceedings.
The 2012 Tour de France winner has been in what is known as an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), a financial agreement designed to help people avoid bankruptcy and pay creditors, since 2020 after Wiggins Rights Limited entered liquidation in September of that year.
An update on the liquidation filed with Companies House this week reveals that a near £1m claim made last year is yet to be paid, as reported by Cycling Weekly.
The company could now sell the intellectual property rights to the trademarks “Bradley Wiggins”, “Wiggins” and “Wiggo” after valuation agents were directed to progress their marketing and sale.
In a report filed by financial firm MHA MacIntyre Hudson for the period up to 15 September 2023, liquidators claimed that they had yet to be paid any of the £979,953 claimed in 2022 in part to pay off a director’s loan that remains outstanding. Wiggins had been looking to complete the sale of a Spanish property.
“Unfortunately the joint supervisor has informed creditors that a Notice of Breach has been issued in respect of the IVA and if the breach is not remedied then the IVA may be terminated,” the report said.
“In the event the IVA is terminated the director may become subject to bankruptcy proceedings and this would potentially substantially increase the expected timeframe for recovery of the outstanding directors loan account.
“I expect that the termination of the IVA should be confirmed within the next few months.”
Sir Bradley Wiggins won five Olympic gold medals— (PA Archive)
Wiggins, who has previously disputed the claim, said to Cycling Weekly that the claim had “gone on for a few years now with no apparent end in sight.
“It’s a very historical matter that involves professional negligence from [others] that has left a s*** pile with my name at the front of it to deal with!
“[It] happens to a lot of sportsmen while they’re doing the grafting and on that there’ll be a number of legal claims from my lawyers left right and centre as a result.”
Since retiring from professional cycling in 2016, Wiggins has worked as a pundit.
In October 2020, a spokesperson said that Wiggins’s involvement in three liquidated companies was “not day to day,” and that “this in no way affects Bradley’s personal solvency.”
