Michael Anthony Joyce (Tony Joyce) has been banned from running a company for 12 years for laundering cheques for rogue builders and for taking in a cheque from a client when his business was already insolvent and the cheque was unlikely to be honoured.

The disqualification follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service.


Tony Joyce, 72, from Wimbledon in south London, has given an undertaking not to act as a company director from 3 June 2013 until June 2025 after admitting cashing cheques for a group of rogue builders totalling at least £224,631.

These builders targeted elderly home-owners, cold calling them and offering free inspections of the paintwork on exterior walls of their homes. They then damaged the fabric of the walls in the course of these inspections and charged the residents significant sums of money to repair the damage.

Tony Joyce cashed cheques the builders took from these vulnerable customers but failed to carry out proper background checks, including checking any identification from these builders, so there is little prospect now of tracking down these funds to return to the customers.

He also admitted he had taken a £19,600 cheque from a member of the public at a time when he knew his business, Chequechange, was insolvent and would, therefore, be unlikely to honour it. This led to the victim suffering a £16,080 loss.



Chequechange Ltd, went into liquidation on 20 October 2011 with debts of close to £2million.



Commenting on Tony Joyce’s disqualification, David Brooks, Chief Examiner, The Insolvency Service, said: 

“This is a very serious case of a director both allowing criminal behaviour to be carried out by flouting money laundering regulations and directly harming a member of the public who trusted him but has been left devastated by this financial loss.



“There is no place in the business community for individuals who act in this manner and disqualification will remove the ability to trade through a limited liability company.”