Former Baldwins Travel director Jack Mason, chief executive of the Inc & Co Group which acquired Baldwins in 2021, lost an appeal against a 22-month jail sentence last week.
Mason was found guilty of contempt of court last July for breaching three freezing orders obtained by Barclays Bank.
He was sentenced in October but remains in Spain, having failed to appear at his sentencing hearing or at the appeal.
Fellow defendant Scott Dylan, whom the High Court found to be a “person of significant control” at Baldwins’ parent company, failed in an appeal against the length of his sentence for contempt – also 22 months –in January and remains in prison.
More: Baldwins Travel’s appeal against Abta membership termination set for March
A third defendant, David Antrobus, chief technology officer and director at Baldwins’ owner, also received a 22-month sentence for contempt in his absence.
The three were found to have breached the orders by moving two UK companies and their assets – including Baldwins Travel – first to the British Virgin Islands and then to the US state of Delaware.
Barclays obtained the orders after launching proceedings to recover £13.7 million in “unauthorised borrowings” in 2021.
Inc & Co Group paid £2.7 million to acquire Baldwins in September 2021, securing the money against the company’s properties.
Lord Justice Lewison in the Appeal Court noted the judge who sentenced Mason “did not find him a credible witness” and ruled there was “no fault in the way the judge approached his task”.
Fellow appeal judge Lady Justice King argued it was “particularly repugnant” for a contemnor (someone found in contempt of court) not to appear in person.
The third Appeal Court judge, Lord Justice Coulson, described Mason as “an evasive and untruthful witness”, and described some of the grounds of Mason’s appeal as “an illegitimate attempt to open up findings of fact”.
Abta terminated Baldwins Travel’s membership for “failing to provide financial information” last month only to reinstate the company pending an appeal after Baldwins challenged the grounds for the termination.
Baldwins has already appealed once, last autumn, against termination of its Abta membership. That decision was revoked after the company provided undertakings.
It remains an Abta member, with a bond providing pipeline protection of payments, pending the appeal.