Good grief. We’re literally days into a new year, and a scammer and fraud has already been exposed. Is this going to be one of those years when a much-needed cleanup happens in the scene? Let’s hope so.

Derek Hazell runs the Impeccable Agency. Well, he might or he might not, no one’s sure at this moment in time. Derek isn’t currently replying to the emails I’ve sent to him with a few questions about this sorry business and seems to have deleted all his social media profiles. No doubt he’ll soon re-emerge, like all scoundrels do when they think the dust has settled, Sterling Void style.

In the meantime, he’s taken tens of thousands of pounds from a number of artists on his roster and done a runner. Amounts run from a few hundred pounds in the case of Lenny Fontana, to amounts in the several thousand by Jon Dasilva, Pete Heller and Jon Cooper of Jon Pleased Wimmin fame. The amount he’s stolen is easily within five figures and leaves a number of DJs in a financial hole.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for you, Derek Hazell – and I already know that isn’t your real name. You can’t hide forever.