Sad news for the three people who fondly remember the soundtracks to turn-of-the-millennium Tomb Raider – their composer, Peter Connelly, has been sentenced to 16 months behind bars for COVID-19 loan fraud.
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As well as contributions to Tomb Raider III (1998), Connelly is best known for his work on The Last Revelation (1999), the fourth installment in the series, and its follow-ups, Chronicles (2000) and Angel of Darkness (2003).
The latter two are widely thought to be the worst Tomb Raider games (to play – we offer no comment on the music), after which publisher Eidos stripped the property from developer Core Design, Connelly’s employer at the time.
The 52-year-old had the grand vision of orchestrally reimagining the soundtracks to the games he had scored some 15 years later, which he believed to be potentially lucrative. In fact, according to the UK Insolvency Service, he said in interviews that he had taken out personal loans and sold his car to get the project over the line.
However, when the pandemic hit in 2020, he sought financial help, securing a Bounce Back Loan of £22,000 ($29,000) in May that year. Just one month later, however, he applied for another Bounce Back Loan through a different bank, this time securing a further £37,500 ($50,500) on claims that his company, Peter Connelly Limited, had a 2019 turnover of £150,000 ($200,000). Businesses were only entitled to a single loan.
Subsequent analysis discovered that the actual turnover was more like £58,000 ($78,000), “meaning he substantially inflated it on his second application,” the Insolvency Service said. The Durham-based composer also falsely claimed that the second loan was the only one he took out, said the Insolvency Service.
Peter Connelly Limited went into liquidation in August 2021 without either loan being repaid, and Connelly himself entered an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) in June 2022 to make regular payments to an insolvency practitioner to repay his debts, it added.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Peter Connelly blatantly disregarded the rules of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, designed to support small and medium-sized businesses during the pandemic.
“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.
“The Insolvency Service is the lead agency for tackling Bounce Back Loan misconduct and we remain committed to ensuring fraudsters who stole from the public purse during a national emergency are brought to justice.”
Tomb Raider would later be rebooted under Square Enix in 2013, bringing the series back up to snuff and culminating with Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018. ®