An entrepreneur who founded a surfboard tracking business has been jailed after he faked VAT claims for £270,000 when his business failed. Surfer Andrew Smith, of Newport, South Wales, launched his business putting tracking chips into surfboards and even tried to attract investment from Dragon's Den star Richard Farleigh. But the business, called surfboardtracker.com, began to fail and Smith started making false VAT claims in a £270,000 racket. Andrew Smith has been jailed after it emerged he was involved in a £270,000 VAT scam as his business failed Five years later most of the father-of-three's income was coming directly from the taxman, after Smith faked invoices and bank statements.
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Andrew Smith launched a surfboard business, installing microchip trackers
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He tried to get interest from Dragon's Den star Richard Farleigh
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But business began to fail and Smith started faking his VAT claims
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Five years later he was involved in £270,000 VAT racket, faking invoices
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Cardiff Crown Court heard most of his income in 2013 was from taxman
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HMRC exposed fraud and Smith, a father of three, was jailed for 20 months
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Smith said he had been caring for his wife at the time, who had cancer
In 2008 a spokesman for Mr Farleigh's company was quoted as saying:  'We're investing as much in @placeholder as in the idea.