Eco-entrepreneur's legal defeat over misuse of company funds
A female entrepreneur behind a bamboo toothbrush company has lost a bitter High Court battle after a judge ruled she used business funds to pay for her children's outstanding boarding school fees and other personal expenses. Sophie Perhar, 48, had attempted to blame her finance provider, David Slinger, 73, for the collapse of The Sustainable Company, but the court found she caused her own firm's downfall.
The financial arrangement and breakdown
Mrs Perhar's company, The Sustainable Bathroom Company Ltd, had been advanced approximately £500,000 by Mr Slinger's finance firm, Synergy in Trade Ltd, between April 2022 and June 2023. The funding was intended to support manufacturing costs for her innovative bamboo electric toothbrush, which had secured a lucrative supply agreement with supermarket giant Aldi.
However, a critical error occurred when Aldi mistakenly sent payments totalling around €500,000 to Mrs Perhar's business account instead of the account controlled by Synergy. Rather than transferring these funds to her finance provider as contractually required, Mrs Perhar used the money to cover what she described as "urgent" personal debts.
Unauthorised personal expenditures revealed
In his ruling, Mr Justice Michael Green detailed how Mrs Perhar had diverted business funds to support "her and her family's affluent lifestyle." The court heard she paid £85,000 towards her children's boarding school fees and £40,000 to pawnbrokers from the Aldi payments that should have gone to Synergy.
"What is critical," the judge stated, "is that when Mrs Perhar first became aware of the erroneous payments, she did not transfer them over to Synergy, or give it control over them, or treat them as trust monies as the company was bound to do."
The administration and legal challenge
Following these developments, Synergy demanded immediate repayment of £376,291 in June 2023 and, just three hours later, filed to put The Sustainable Bathroom Company into administration. Mrs Perhar subsequently sued at the High Court, claiming Synergy had "approved" her making the payments and that Mr Slinger had appointed administrators for "vindictive" and "improper" reasons.
She alleged that Mr Slinger became angry after she complained to his female business partner, Cassandra McAlpine, about what she described as "uncomfortable talk about his personal life" during meetings. Mrs Perhar claimed her complaints about his conduct ultimately led to him "pulling the plug" on her business.
Judge's decisive ruling
Mr Justice Green dismissed these allegations, finding that Mr Slinger had taken an "open-minded and constructive approach" to financially supporting Mrs Perhar's business. The judge ruled that the entrepreneur brought disaster upon herself through her financial mismanagement.
"Mrs Perhar is a woman driven to succeed; in part because of a belief that the toothbrush is a product good for the planet," the judge noted in his judgment. "But there was an undercurrent to her evidence that she and her vision were the centres of this relationship. Synergy was a tool along the way, useful for funding her good product, and in the event useful for assisting with her and her family's affluent lifestyle."
The judge added that Mrs Perhar was not "open and frank in her dealings with the receipts" and that "while she had discussed her financial problems with Mr Slinger, there was no agreement to these payments."
Business background and implications
The Sustainable Bathroom Company was launched in January 2019 as a wholesaler of environmentally friendly bathroom products. After initial success with a mosquito repellent called Mozzipatch, Mrs Perhar developed an electric bamboo toothbrush with replaceable heads. By early 2022, the company had secured the supply agreement with Aldi that formed the basis of its funding arrangement with Synergy.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Justice Green stated: "Whether solvent or not, the company failed because of Mrs Perhar's unauthorised use of the Aldi monies. The alternative, of handing the company back to Mrs Perhar, when it has not traded for more than two years, has significant outstanding liabilities and no up-to-date accounts, would be unthinkable."
The ruling leaves Synergy reportedly "out of pocket" to the tune of approximately £375,000, while Mrs Perhar's business remains in administration with no prospect of revival under her leadership.
