Freeman sentenced to 18 months
Howard Lake | 7 November 2006 | News
The man at the centre of the Solutions RMC scandal in Scotland has today been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty at a previous hearing of offences under the Insolvencies Act 1986.
Freeman’s company went into liquidation in 2003 after an investigation found that it had collected £13m in donations, but had given only £1.5m to Breasst Cancer Research (Scotland). He admitted fraudulently removing more than £450,000 from his business before it went bust.
At a hearing last Tuesday (31 October) Freeman was given a week to come up with the £362,000 he still owes his creditors. The court heard today that he has repaid most of the money and has arrangements to pay the remainder.
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Chair of the Institute of Scotland Maureen Harrison said: “Today’s sentencing finally brings complete closure to this matter and the decision will be widely supported by our members and the wider third sector. I can only hope that his time spent behind bars will force Mr Freeman to reflect on the true impact of his actions.”
Negative media coverage of the Solutions RMC scandal and an unrelated investigation into children’s charity Moonbeams saw donations in Scotland plummet and led to the setting up of the Giving Scotland campaign at the end of 2003.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.