THE director of a charity fundraising business who failed to pay out £125,634 of donated cash has been banned from running a company for nine and a half years.

Christopher John Stoddard from Walford near Ross-on-Wye was the director of CS Fundraising Limited (CSF) when it went bust in 2014 – one of nine companies he has had a “significant role” in which has gone into insolvency since 2010.

One of the firms formerly run by the 68-year-old included CSDM Fundraising, which according to the liquidator crashed in 2013 owing more than £1m.

At its peak, CSF was sending out around 150,000 mail donation letters per month on behalf of charities, for whom it acted as a direct marketing agency.

But following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Stoddard admitted that CSF had broken the rules governing charities in the way it solicited money, and he had caused CSF to keep donations made to a charity of at least £125,634.

He was also in breach of misleading the public through a company statement that did not comply with charity laws, and had breached the duty of trust to CSF, by causing another company which he controlled to earn revenues from the renting out of the mailing list of CSF without accounting for the income earned.

Martin Gitner, deputy head of the Insolvency Service’s investigations department, said: “Members of the public who donate their money to worthy causes need to be confident that all funds, less agreed costs, are forwarded by the professional fundraising companies employed by the charities.

“In this case, Mr Stoddard failed to fully adhere to legislation directly relevant to the business of his company, he failed to ensure that all due funds due to a charity were paid over and he failed to act in the best interests of the creditors of CS Fundraising Limited.

“Directors who engage in such conduct will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and enforcement action taken to remove them from the market place.”

The IS said that since June 2010, Stoddard had been a director and/or the major shareholder in nine companies that had entered into formal insolvency.

CSF was set up in June 2008 and traded until late 2014 from premises in Ross-on-Wye, and took over the assets and contracts of an associated professional fundraising company that entered into formal insolvency proceedings in June 2012.

An IS spokesman said: “Under sustained pressure from various sources, Mr Stoddard took the decision to cause the company (CSF) to cease trading in November 2014 and on December 19, 2014 the company was placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.”

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, accepted a disqualification undertaking from Stoddard on June 13, which prevents him from “directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership, for nine and a half years.”

The ban means that he can’t act as a director of a company, take part in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership, or be a receiver of a company’s property, without specific court permission.