Peter Connelly, best known for working on the soundtracks forWatch Dogsand multipleTomb Raidergames, has been found guilty of fraud. He will be jailed for 16 months, and is barred from being a company director for six years.
This comes after Connelly fraudulently claimed a second Bounce Back Loan during the Covid-19 pandemic. This would have given him a further £37,500, after already receiving a loan of £22,000 a month prior.
Peter Connelly Fraudulently Claimed A Covid Loan To Fund A Tomb Raider Music Project
As spotted byEurogamer, the news of Connelly’s guilty verdict and sentencing was shared on the UK governmentwebsite, as part of its efforts to go after those who fraudulently claimed Covid loans.
“Peter Connelly blatantly disregarded the rules of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, designed to support small and medium-sized businesses during the pandemic,” says chief investigator at the UK Insolvency Service, David Snasdell. “Connelly not only secured two loans when businesses were only allowed one, but deliberately inflated his company’s turnover to receive more money than he was entitled to.”
Connelly applied for his first loan in May 2020, and the government says that this application was legitimate. However, a month later, he went to a different bank, not only claiming a second loan that he was not entitled to, but lying about his company’s turnover in the process.
As for the purpose of the loan, Connelly told investigators that it was to fund a project which would “re-imagine the music for the Tomb Raider soundtrack”. It’s unclear how exactly this would have materialised, or how rights holders would have been involved. Either way, Connelly said the project had the “potential to be very lucrative”.
Connelly got his start on the Tomb Raider series with the third entry, working on additional sound design. He was then promoted to composer fromTomb Raider: The Last Revelation, and then returned to give us the soundtracks forTomb Raider: ChroniclesandTomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. After that, many would have heard his work in Watch Dogs and The Crew. Most recently, he was credited for work on therecent Tomb Raider remaster collectionsfrom Aspyr.
