Bankruptcy and Fraud Allegations Take Down Radford Motors
Former F1 champion Jenson Button and TV mechanic Ant Anstead partnered on Radford Motors which seems to have run out of money.
What once appeared to be a car company with unlimited potential now appears to be dead in less in than three years. Radford Motors was the revival of defunct British automaker Radford. In August of 2020 Ant Anstead of Wheeler Dealer fame and Jenson Button of Formula One fame partnered to bring the company back to life. That is a lot of star power to lead a company to build custom, high-end sports cars. The first model developed was the Type 62-2 which was a reimagined version of the Lotus Type 62. At the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed the car won the Michelin Showstopper Award. That’s a good start. But as they say, it is not how you start but how you finish. And it seems that Radford Motors is finished, and it is an ugly finish.
Fraud and bankruptcy are two words that you never want associated with your business. Unfortunately, Radford Motors is facing both. As first reported by People, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 11. That would be bad enough. However, Anstead and co-founder/Chief Financial Officer Daniel Bednarski are being accused of fraud by one of their business partners, Pastor (Pat) Velasco. Velasco claimed in a lawsuit filed on March 8 that he is owed $2 million. On July 24 another complaint was filed by co-owner Roger N. Behle Jr. claiming that Anstead and Bednarski mismanaged the company’s finances. Ugh. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Fraud Charges
The complaint that was filed in July claims that Anstead and Bednarski landed a new $100,000 sale. However, just a few hours after that money was received from the client the pair “took $54,635.52 from this deposit and used it to pay a vendor for work unrelated to the new client’s vehicle,” the complaint reads. Less than a half an hour later Bednarski took more of the new client’s funds and paid himself $20,000 via wire. The suit also claims that Bednarski paid for personal items such as car insurance by using Radford Motors company funds. Bednarski is not going down without a fight. On April 26 the company filed a counterclaim against Velasco, Behle and others.
Bankruptcy Filing
Bednarski said in a statement to People that “Radford Motors is going through a Chapter 11 Business restructure that will be implementing strategic changes to strengthen our foundation for the future. During this process, it’s expected that certain ownership transitions will occur, which is an important step in our evolution. We are excited about the road ahead and remain focused on continuing business as usual with renewed energy and purpose.” It is not clear at this point what the ownership changes will be and if Anstead and Button will remain involved with the company.
The Cars
The legal issues are a mess, but the cars are beautiful. The company made a Type 62-2 and a Type 62-2 Track Edition. The Track Edition cars sold for $1 million apiece and only 12 were made. The lightweight supercar not only came complete with Sparco racing overalls and driving shoes but the opportunity to train with Button and Tanner Foust at the Radford Racing School. It is a shame to see a company with so much potential get caught up in such a mess. Hopefully all the legal issues get sorted out and the company is able to build epic cars again.
Images: Radford Motors/Facebook
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