A former UK billionaire has been forced to sell off his house and cars after being left bankrupt by a notorious drug cartel, he claims.
Just last year, static caravan entrepreneur Bob Bull was worth nearly £2billion and ranked number 88 on the UK rich list. But it all went wrong when he tried to refinance his Royal Life business – thought to be worth around £4billion – and the lender pulled out at the last minute.
The desperate CEO turned to a member of an organised crime group for a £3million loan, despite his rumoured links to notorious drug gang Kinahan Cartel. He was due to pay the money back within four weeks, with interest due at £3million a month.
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(Image: saranilsen/Instagram)
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But Mr Bull, from Manchester, was shocked when his debt spiralled out of control and he was finally ordered to pay back a total of £42million.
He said: “These people have taken me to the limits of my life and my wife says ‘I’m there for you’. If the judge who heard the bankruptcy knew I was the victim of criminality I think the bankruptcy would have been thrown out.”
The father-of-two claims he has since been subject to threats and intimidation by the Kinahan Cartel, which has links to South American drug gangs. Their “campaign of hate” included shocking attack on his wife, who was knocked out and the keys to her £450,000 Rolls-Royce were stolen.
Scotland Yard compiled a dossier of evidence on the incident, which was later handed to Hampshire Police. They concluded Mr Bull had been a “victim of a conspiracy to defraud him, to destroy his £4billion caravan, bungalow and holiday parks business.”
(Image: saranilsen/Instagram)
The documents go on to say: “This group is feared because of its use of extreme violence, including murder, against rivals. In Mr Bull’s case they lost no time in using the menace of violence by the Irish cartel as a means of reinforcing unwarranted demands, as well as issuing their own threats of violence and kidnapping.”
Mr Bull – who made his money turning static caravans into bungalow villages – had built up his wealth after previously going bankrupt in 2016. He spent his fortune on a lavish home near Southampton, Hampshire, and several supercars which have now been repossessed to pay his £725million debts.
The six-bedroom house, which features eight bathrooms and a private bowling alley, is now listed on RightMove for a cool £6million.
In December, court papers showed how Mr Bull hoped to enter an arrangement to pay off his debts at just 0.25%. His lawyer Ben Channer added: “It is not a great return to the creditors, but it is a return.”
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