Chris Hutcheson, the former father in law of Gordon Ramsay and chief executive officer of Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) failed in a bid to wind up the celebrity chef’s company, which owns all his restaurants and media ventures.
Mr Hutcheson was dismissed from GRH in October 2010 for allegedly withdrawing money from the company to fund a secret double life and for illegally accessing Mr Ramsay’s e-mails and computers. The parties eventually settled out of court in January 2011 after agreeing to what is believed to be a £2m pay-out.
Mr Hutcheson, now involved with the healthy fast-food concept, Scoffs, made an application to the High Court to have GRH wound up due to an alleged unpaid debt, believed to be the settlement agreed in January 2011. He also alleged that GRH was under investigation from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over tax fraud.
Hutcheson’s petition was dismissed by the High Court on an undertaking by GRH that it would pay the outstanding debt in full. However, GRH believe that the petition was presented to smear GRH as part of the on-going feud between the parties and a source close to the company said: “The winding up petition was published maliciously and in contravention of the court rules, which amounts to an abuse of process. The issue between the parties was never about GRH’s solvency.”