The Charity Commission has disqualified the corporate trustee of the Cup Trust, and removed the charity from the register, the regulator announced today.
The Cup Trust was a charity used as a large-scale tax avoidance scheme. It received more than £176m between March 2009 and March 2011, spent that money on buying government bonds and then sold those bonds for less than £17,000. The charity donated only £55,000 to good causes but put in claims for £46m of Gift Aid, which were not successful.
The Commission has used new powers conferred under the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 to disqualify Mountstar, the charity’s sole corporate trustee, from being a charity trustee for a period of 15 years. The regulator said it is also considering regulatory action against the individuals who were directors of Mountstar.
On Monday one of Mountstar's directors was banned from the accountancy profession for a decade and fined £70,000 for his part in the scheme.
The charity has been wound up by the charity’s interim managers, who were appointed by the regulator to administer the charity. The Commission removed the Cup Trust from the register of charities on 26 May 2017.
The result of an investigation into the Cup Trust is still to be published.
Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: “We are sending a strong message to all those whose actions harm charities: that they will be held accountable and that we will protect other charities from those who pose a risk to them.
“Our action in this case is important to protect the trust the public should have in charities. It shows the donating public that the regulator acts to address wrongdoing and that they can have confidence in a well-run charitable sector.”
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