Tyneside pizza boss jailed after gambling with money from £150,000 Covid loan fraud

Matthew Temple obtained three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for the same Whitley Bay pizza business  

More than £131,000 of the £150,000 was not used wholly for business purposes, including money spent on gambling and children’s toys  

Temple was jailed for two years after admitting three fraud offences

A Tyneside pizza company boss who fraudulently secured £150,000 in Covid loans before company funds were spent on gambling and children’s toys has been jailed. 

Matthew Temple obtained three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for Pizza Cottage (Whitley Bay) Limited, which traded as Pizza Cottage on East Parade in Whitley Bay. 

The 44-year-old, known as Mehdi Ghaneh-Keisami when the offences were committed, secured all three loans in a little over a month during the pandemic. 

This was despite businesses being entitled to only one Bounce Back Loan. 

Temple, of Bank Court, North Shields, was jailed for two years when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday 23 October. 

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Matthew Temple exploited a taxpayer-backed scheme designed to help businesses through the pandemic by obtaining three £50,000 loans when his company was entitled to only one. 

Company funds were then spent on gambling and even children’s toys and play equipment, despite Temple declaring the money would be used for the benefit of his business. 

Temple is now beginning a two-year prison sentence, but our work does not stop at securing a conviction. We are also seeking to recover the money he fraudulently obtained and return funds to the public purse.

Pizza Cottage (Whitley Bay) Limited was incorporated in June 2016 with Temple as its sole director. 

Temple secured the first £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in May 2020, shortly after the scheme launched.