Dubai-based Manchester businessman’s assets frozen following court no-show over £19.7m credit claims

A Manchester businessman and self-styled business guru whose podcast has featured celebrities and sports personalities has had a multi-million pound worldwide asset freezing order imposed by the High Court.

Dubai-based Matt Haycox was in 2010 barred from “managing, controlling or being a director of any company until 2022” following an investigation by the Insolvency Service into his Northern lap dancing business. The businessman is now subject to a £5.6 million asset-freezing injunction and has been warned of contempt of court, the risk of imprisonment and having assets seized if he disobeys court orders, including to attend a hearing in person.

The freezing order covers assets including a Hyde Park mansion flat, a Dubai marina penthouse and property in Spain, as well as a yacht called Sea Squirter, a Ferrari 458, Range Rover Sport and a Lamborghini, and a Bored Ape cryptotoken.

High Court filings show Haycox, a co-founder of the Elevate investment fund for Northern SMEs, was ordered to attend Manchester civil justice centre in February for a cross-examination on his assets, following an application by ANS and Godel founder Scott Fletcher and Lowry Trading, but failed to attend.

The Times reports that Haycox claimed that when he went to board a flight from Dubai international airport to Manchester, he discovered that the name on his airline ticket, booked by the claimant, was misspelt and he was unable to check in, according to court filings. He also claimed he was unable to board a later re-booked flight because he lost his “man bag” containing his passport and was unable to retrieve it. An application from Haycox for the hearing to be heard remotely via video-link was subsequently refused.

In February, following another High Court action, Haycox was declared bankrupt for a year after insolvency practitioners at Grant Thornton petitioned on behalf of another Huddle vehicle – Huddle SPV 4. The administrators have received claims from creditors of £19.7 million and have said a return is unlikely to be paid.

Haycox applied for a stay of the claim against him following his latest bankruptcy, in April, which was dismissed in a virtual hearing.

Claimant Fletcher is a former child actor and technology entrepreneur and investor who sold his ANS Group in 2021, in a high profile merger with Manchester’s UKFast. Lowry Trading donated £237,000 to the Conservative Party between 2019 and 2014, according to Electoral Commission records.

Haycox is facing claims for damages for allegedly fraudulently soliciting investment.into Huddle SPV 20 and SPV 3. Haycox denied the claim in a filed defence last year.

Haycox hosts podcasts including Stripping Off with Matt Haycox and No Bollocks with Matt Haycox. And guests have included Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the former Conservative minister who was recently elected mayor of Greater Lincolnshire after standing as a Reform candidate; Chris Robshaw, a former England rugby captain; and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.

His website promotes lending, consulting, co-investing, private coaching and speaking opportunities and describes him as “one of the most well-known names in the industry” who has “provided over £500 million of funding into UK businesses,” as well as raising money for charity, starring on national TV and becoming a social media star – “and that’s just scraping the surface.”

Despite the order to attend the court in the UK, Haycox posted pictures on his Instagram account in April tagged at Everest base camp.

Haycox has denied the claims and told The Times that “many of the assets mentioned I have not owned either ever or for many years.”