Bradley Wiggins at risk of bankruptcy as near £1m claim remains unpaid

Liquidators of Wiggins’s company are selling the rights to the Bradley
Wiggins name

BY VERN PITT
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 09, 2023

Sir Bradley Wiggins is at risk of facing bankruptcy proceedings as the
liquidators of his company reveal a claim against him for nearly £1m has
still not been paid.

Plus, the rights to the trademarks of his own name, “Wiggins” and “Wiggo”
are being put up for sale.

Wiggins has been in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), a financial
agreement designed to help people pay off creditors and avoid bankruptcy,
since July 2020.

Wiggins Rights Limited, the company that ran much of Bradley Wiggins’s
affairs during his career and which was the parent of the now defunct Team
Wiggins, entered liquidation in September 2020.

In an update on the liquidation, filed at Companies House this week,
liquidators revealed they have yet to be paid any of the £979,953 they
claimed from Wiggins in 2022 in part to pay off an outstanding director's
loan. Wiggins has previously said he disputes the claim.

They said they had anticipated getting just £600,695 from Wiggins’s IVA,
mostly from the sale of a property in Spain.

But they also revealed that the supervisor of Wiggins’s IVA has said the
Tour de France winner has been issued with a “notice of breach” of the
conditions of his arrangement.

In the liquidators report dated 19 September they said: “Unfortunately the
joint supervisor has informed creditors… if the breach is not remedied then
the IVA may be terminated. 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.”

They added: “I expect that the termination of the IVA should be confirmed
within the next few months.”

Liquidators also said that they had instructed Axia Valuation Services to
market and sell the rights to the trademarks “Bradley Wiggins”, “Wiggins”
and “Wiggo” ,all of which are held by the company in liquidation.

When asked for comment Wiggins said his financial woes had “gone on for a
few years now with no apparent end in sight”.

He added: “It’s a very historical matter that involves professional
negligence from [others] that has left a s**t pile with my name at the
front of it to deal with!

“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 center
as a result.”

He added that his legal representatives had experienced “a fair amount of
difficulty” in accessing documents.

The liquidators also detailed increased claims from creditors to Wiggins
Rights Limited. While the original directors estimate of money owed to the
taxman was £272,360, liquidators said they had received a claim for
£313,447.

Plus, the claims from non-preferential creditors have risen from the
£382,297 estimate at the time of entering liquidation to £425,795. Though
they added that one creditor owed an estimated sum over £26,000, thought to
be law firm Harbottle and Lewis, had yet to submit a claim.

Taken together the total claims outlined by liquidators amount to nearly
three quarters of a million pounds.

In December 2020, not long after his companies entered liquidation, a
spokesperson said that Wiggins’s involvement in the companies was “not day
to day,” and that “this in no way affects Bradley's personal solvency.”

<https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/bradley-wiggins-at-risk-of-bankruptcy-as-near-pound1m-claim-remains-unpaid>

--
Spike

On 16/12/2023 07:02 pm, Spike wrote:
>
> Bradley Wiggins at risk of bankruptcy as near £1m claim remains unpaid
>
> Liquidators of Wiggins’s company are selling the rights to the Bradley
> Wiggins name
>
> BY VERN PITT
> PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 09, 2023
>
> Sir Bradley Wiggins is at risk of facing bankruptcy proceedings as the
> liquidators of his company reveal a claim against him for nearly £1m has
> still not been paid.
>
> Plus, the rights to the trademarks of his own name, “Wiggins” and “Wiggo”
> are being put up for sale.
>
> Wiggins has been in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), a financial
> agreement designed to help people pay off creditors and avoid bankruptcy,
> since July 2020.
>
> Wiggins Rights Limited, the company that ran much of Bradley Wiggins’s
> affairs during his career and which was the parent of the now defunct Team
> Wiggins, entered liquidation in September 2020.
>
> In an update on the liquidation, filed at Companies House this week,
> liquidators revealed they have yet to be paid any of the £979,953 they
> claimed from Wiggins in 2022 in part to pay off an outstanding director's
> loan. Wiggins has previously said he disputes the claim.
>
> They said they had anticipated getting just £600,695 from Wiggins’s IVA,
> mostly from the sale of a property in Spain.
>
> But they also revealed that the supervisor of Wiggins’s IVA has said the
> Tour de France winner has been issued with a “notice of breach” of the
> conditions of his arrangement.
>
> In the liquidators report dated 19 September they said: “Unfortunately the
> joint supervisor has informed creditors… if the breach is not remedied then
> the IVA may be terminated. 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.”
>
> They added: “I expect that the termination of the IVA should be confirmed
> within the next few months.”
>
> Liquidators also said that they had instructed Axia Valuation Services to
> market and sell the rights to the trademarks “Bradley Wiggins”, “Wiggins”
> and “Wiggo” ,all of which are held by the company in liquidation.
>
> When asked for comment Wiggins said his financial woes had “gone on for a
> few years now with no apparent end in sight”.
>
> He added: “It’s a very historical matter that involves professional
> negligence from [others] that has left a s**t pile with my name at the
> front of it to deal with!
>
> “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 center
> as a result.”
>
> He added that his legal representatives had experienced “a fair amount of
> difficulty” in accessing documents.
>
> The liquidators also detailed increased claims from creditors to Wiggins
> Rights Limited. While the original directors estimate of money owed to the
> taxman was £272,360, liquidators said they had received a claim for
> £313,447.
>
> Plus, the claims from non-preferential creditors have risen from the
> £382,297 estimate at the time of entering liquidation to £425,795. Though
> they added that one creditor owed an estimated sum over £26,000, thought to
> be law firm Harbottle and Lewis, had yet to submit a claim.
>
> Taken together the total claims outlined by liquidators amount to nearly
> three quarters of a million pounds.
>
> In December 2020, not long after his companies entered liquidation, a
> spokesperson said that Wiggins’s involvement in the companies was “not day
> to day,” and that “this in no way affects Bradley's personal solvency.”
>
> <https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/bradley-wiggins-at-risk-of-bankruptcy-as-near-pound1m-claim-remains-unpaid>

A shame, really. I thought Bradders was a fairly cool dude, especially
when compared with the usual run of chav-cyclists.

JNugent <jnugent@mail.com> wrote:
> On 16/12/2023 07:02 pm, Spike wrote:

>> Bradley Wiggins at risk of bankruptcy as near £1m claim remains unpaid

>> Liquidators of Wiggins’s company are selling the rights to the Bradley Wiggins name

[…]

>> <https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/bradley-wiggins-at-risk-of-bankruptcy-as-near-pound1m-claim-remains-unpaid>

> A shame, really. I thought Bradders was a fairly cool dude, especially
> when compared with the usual run of chav-cyclists.

One might think that that the pharmaceutical companies would chuck in a few
bob to help him out in his hour of need, if for nothing else than his
services to the industry. And 30p per cyclist isn’t much to ask either to
help out the old boy.

--
Spike

On 17/12/2023 10:19 am, Spike wrote:

> JNugent <jnugent@mail.com> wrote:
>> On 16/12/2023 07:02 pm, Spike wrote:
>
>>> Bradley Wiggins at risk of bankruptcy as near £1m claim remains unpaid
>
>>> Liquidators of Wiggins’s company are selling the rights to the Bradley Wiggins name
>
> […]
>
>>> <https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/bradley-wiggins-at-risk-of-bankruptcy-as-near-pound1m-claim-remains-unpaid>
>
>> A shame, really. I thought Bradders was a fairly cool dude, especially
>> when compared with the usual run of chav-cyclists.
>
> One might think that that the pharmaceutical companies would chuck in a few
> bob to help him out in his hour of need, if for nothing else than his
> services to the industry. And 30p per cyclist isn’t much to ask either to
> help out the old boy.

Especially as they are all (well, almost all) Considerably Richer Than Yow.