ORGANISATIONS have distanced themselves from a serial fraudster after a website he set up claimed spurious links to dozens of multi-million pound companies.

The Northern Echo believes a company calling itself B1 Infinity is a sham and the creation of conman Michael Kenny, formerly of Darlington.

Purportedly a business solutions company, its website – b1infinity.co.uk – claims the organisation has links with dozens of businesses, local authorities, universities and even charities.

It claims to be affiliated with a host of organisations with North-East links, including Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council, Teesside University and Tata Steel, which employs 1,500 people in Redcar.

However, those links have been rubbished by some of the organisations concerned, while not a single one of B1 Infinity’s alleged clients, customers or partners has confirmed its claims.

Other companies B1 Infinity claims to have ties with include supermarket giant Tesco, budget airline Jet2 and Hitachi, which earlier this year won a £4.5bn contract to build the next generation of high-speed intercity trains in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Tesco said it was not aware of any affiliation with B1 Infinity and plans to write to the company asking that it immediately removes references to the supermarket on its website The website includes quotes, apparently from high-ranking employees of the organisations said to have worked with B1 Infinity.

It quotes a ‘Chris Pears’, supposedly a contracts manager at Durham County Council and ‘Gordon Bell’, which it claims is finance director of Sunderland City Council.

Both authorities have confirmed that they have had no dealings with either Kenny or B1 Infinity.

Furthermore, neither of the councils has an employee sharing a name and job title with those quoted on the website.

Jet2 and Hitachi said they are looking into B1 Infinity’s claims that it has worked with the companies.

Today (October 29), The Northern Echo reported that Kenny, who in 2004 falsely claimed to have opened the UK’s first refuge for male domestic abuse victims, had duped estate agents into giving him the keys to flats, only for rent payments to subsequently dry up.

After being taken to court, he claimed he was suffering from cancer and produced a forged email purportedly from a Marie Curie nurse.

The B1 Infinity website claims the company was set up in 2006, but records show the website was registered by an MJ Kenny only last year.

There is no connection between the sham company and BT Infinity, the telecommunication giant’s broadband service.