The boss of a West Sussex firm which triggered almost 38,000 complaints for unlawful nuisance texts has been banned as a company director.
Leanne Richardson was the director of ESL Consultancy Services Ltd, which hired another company to send the spam texts to customers without their consent.
The 44-year-old’s company promoted high-interest rate loans through the messages, which its affiliate was able to send to 546,000 phone numbers every single day.
Richardson, of The Boulevard, Horsham, has now been disqualified as a company director for six years.
ESL Consultancy Services Ltd was fined £200,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office in December 2024 but went into liquidation the following May without having paid any of the fine.
The ICO also handed out enforcement notices to Taipan Trading Ltd and its sole director Daniel Bentley, who were the senders of the texts.
ICO investigations revealed Bentley and his company sent more than 2.5 million unsolicited direct marketing text messages in 2022 and 2023.
Insolvency Service chief investigator Simon Gillett said: “Illegal spam texts are not just a nuisance. They can cause severe anxiety and distress to vulnerable people.
“Leanne Richardson and her company may not have actually sent the texts but there is no doubt they were the driving force behind the operation.
“Richardson has demonstrated she is unfit to be a company director and we will continue to work with partners to take action against those who prey on those most at risk from this kind of exploitation.”
ICO head of investigations Andy Curry added: “We welcome today’s disqualification. Leanne Richardson was director of a company that knew the law but deliberately chose to ignore it for financial gain.
“As in this case, complainants tell us about the distress that unlawful marketing messages can cause and we will continue to take action against the people and organisations who are responsible for sending them.
“Our Financial Investigation Unit continues to work closely with the Insolvency Service to bring companies and directors to account. By disrupting the non-compliant activities of directors such as Leanne Richardson, we can help ensure they can’t easily resurface under a different name and continue to cause further harm to people.”
The spam messages were sent under orders from Richardson and ESL Consultancy Services Ltd between September 2022 and December 2023. A total of 37,961 complaints were made to the 7726 SPAM reporting service, with a further 16 directly to the ICO.
ESL Consultancy Services Ltd also took steps to try and conceal the identity of the sender of the messages by using unregistered SIM cards.
The Secretary of State for Business & Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Richardson, and her ban started today (June 2). The undertaking prevents her from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
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