Record bankrupt William Stern and his son Mark were in 2000 banned from acting as directors when William Stern’s second business failed. He was banned for 12 years, and his son for 4 years.
William Stern was discharged from his record bankruptcy in 1985. He then built up a second property empire. Between 1990 and 1994 they both withdrew large sums of money from the business for which there was no justifiable basis, leaving creditors unpaid. There was also evidence of Phoenix trading. The failed Kensington Management Services was replaced by Westminster Property Management.
William Stern controlled Fresh Water Group which became the UK’s biggest private landlord in the 1960s. His first property empire crashed in 1974 which debts of £143 million. Five years later, Stern became the biggest UK bankrupt with personal debts of £118 million. Since then his bankruptcy record has been broken once, by Kevin Maxwell.
[2000]