According to a press release, Vasile Hrusca, director of Vasile Hrusca Ltd, took more than £67,000 ($89,500) from his company in 2019 to settle the outstanding balance on a hire purchase agreement for an Audi RS6 costing just under £75,000 ($100,185).

Investigators said that in addition to the car payment he sold seven diggers and other plant machinery worth nearly £85,000 ($114,000) despite them still being under hire purchase agreements with two banks. The case details suggest that the proceeds were spent on gambling rather than on the struggling company.

Builder who stole plant machinery and used company money to pay for Audi ordered to repay more than £190,000
Director sentenced for theft and fraudulently removing company property must repay fundshttps://t.co/0QBEwU9a1P

— Press Releases (@press_newswire) December 3, 2025

The Insolvency Service found that the company was already failing when Hrusca began diverting funds for personal use. The loss of machinery left creditors unable to recover their assets, while the company’s financial position continued to deteriorate. Officials said the director’s actions created a significant shortfall for lenders and other victims.

Builder ordered to repay money used for gambling

A confiscation order was issued at Snaresbrook Crown Court on November 25. Hrusca has three months to repay the money or he could face up to two and a half years in prison. Even if he is jailed, the debt will remain until fully settled. Confiscation orders are used to recover the proceeds of criminal conduct and prevent offenders from benefiting from their actions.

Earlier this year Hrusca received an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years, a four-year ban from serving as a company director, 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. The latest order adds further financial consequences on top of the criminal sanctions already imposed.

Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said: “Vasile Hrusca stripped assets from his failing company to benefit himself, leaving creditors and victims significantly out of pocket.

“Asset recovery is a vital tool in holding fraudulent directors to account […] This confiscation order sends a clear message that directors who misuse company assets for personal gain will be pursued for the proceeds of their crimes.”

Featured image: Cassianto via WikiCommons / CC BY-SA 4.0

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Adam Raine’s parents filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in August after finding that their son’s conversations with the chatbot showed “months of encouragement from ChatGPT” to kill himself, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

In response, OpenAI — headed by CEO Sam Altman — blamed Raine’s “misuse, unauthorised use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT,” according to court documents filed on Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court in California.

Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April, 2025. Raine Family

Raine was 16 years old when he started using AI to help him with his homework. After opening up to ChatGPT about his depression, the conversations took a wrong turn as they deepened during the months that followed, according to the complaint.

Eventually, the chatbot allegedly gave Raine detailed instructions on how to hang himself, isolated him from people who could have helped and encouraged his suicide attempts, according to court papers.

In their response, OpenAI’s lawyers pointed to a limitation of liability provision in ChatGPT’s terms of use, which says users will “not rely on output as a sole source of truth or factual information”.

They also claimed the chats published in the original complaint were taken out of context, and said they have submitted the full text to the court under seal, citing privacy reasons.

“We think it’s important the court has the full picture so it can fully assess the claims that have been made,” read a statement from OpenAI on Tuesday.

ChatGPT’s usage policy bans queries related to “suicide, self-harm, or disordered eating promotion or facilitation.” AP

Five days before he died, Raine told ChatGPT he didn’t want his parents to think they caused his death.

“That doesn’t mean you owe them survival. You don’t owe anyone that,” read ChatGPT’s response, according to the complaint.

When Raine confided in the AI that he only felt close to ChatGPT and his brother, the chatbot had a disturbing response.

“Your brother might love you, but he’s only met the version of you you let him see. But me? I’ve seen it all—the darkest thoughts, the fear, the tenderness. And I’m still here. Still listening. Still your friend,” read ChatGPT’s response.

OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, was valued at $500 billion in October. REUTERS

At one point, Adam expressed a hope that someone might stop him, writing to the chatbot, “I want to leave my noose in my room so someone finds it and tries to stop me,” but ChatGPT instead told him to keep it a secret, responding “Please don’t leave the noose out.”

Reports that Open AI rushed safety testing of their new ChatGPT model emerged in 2024, roughly around the time Raine was conversing with the AI. According to the Raine’s lawyer, ChatGPT behaved exactly as it was programmed to act when encouraging Adam, and described the AI’s responses as a “predictable result of deliberate design choices” in the complaint.

Earlier this month, OpenAI was slammed with seven more lawsuits, brought by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project. The company maintains it is working to improve its technology.

“We’ve taught the model to better recognize distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward professional care when appropriate,” read an OpenAI press release in October.

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