Pictured: Darren Gemmell, right, with action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme
THE Sunday Mail has tracked down runaway laminate tycoon Darren Gemmell.
Millionaire Gemmell, who fled Scotland after his Larry's Laminate empire collapsed owing £500,000, is back in the country.
With a new Russian wife at his side, he boasted of wealth, property, famous friends and how he is back in business ... despite being banned from running a company until 2016.
The Sunday Mail tracked down Gemmell, who left the country when his businesses went under owing more than half a million pounds in 2005, at a luxury flat in the west end of Glasgow.
He and his new wife emerged from a £64,000 Hummer. And Gemmell - who is advertising his new business larrysback from a website and on social networking sites and Twitter - bragged:
That he's now worth £10million despite being barred from being a company director.
That he's best pals with hard man actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
That his Dubai property alone is worth £4.5million and he also has assets in Russia, Glasgow and London.
His new website tells visitors: "After five years in retirement, the world's greatest flooring retailer is back again to smack the competition in the mouth, lower the prices of flooring in Britain ... and have a laugh!!"
But brassnecked Gemmell.'s boasts will be no laughing matter for creditors still owed hundreds of thousands of pounds from the collapse of his Larry's Laminate Land and Robyn's Rug Gallery businesses.
Last night, it emerged he could be the subject of a new investigation by government agency The Insolvency Service. Rules state banned directors can't take part in "directly or indirectly" in "the promotion, formation or management of a company".
Gemmell insisted yesterday he was not breaching the terms of his ban.
He said: "This is not a limited company, just a trading name." Gemmell added: "There were no members of the public that lost any monies or goods in the collapse of Larry's Laminate Land. I would never leave the man or woman in the street out of pocket. It's not my style.
"There were a few suppliers that individually lost tens of thousands of pounds but in some cases, Larry's Laminate Land had spent millions of pounds with these companies.
"Nearly all of the companies that did lose money before are again very happy to deal with me as they know I can and will sell a lot of flooring
"I opened a flooring business in Dubai December last year called Floorworld.
"It's been a huge success. People love the fact that it's a Scottish-owned company in Dubai. All our staff wear kilts."
Gemmell declined to name his new wife. But he added:"It was Jean-Claude Van Damme that introduced us.
"He's a good mate of mine and he looks me up any time he's in Dubai.
"I could send you messy photos of me and Van Damme out drunk in nightclubs but I don't think the big man would like that.
"We were introduced by a mutual friend at a party and he stays with me any time he is in Dubai. We also work out together. I'm just an ordinary Glasgow guy who worked hard, had a good head for business and took my chances in life.
"Larrysback.com at £1.5 million could be my best investment yet. My property in Dubai alone is worth £4.5million.
"Other properties and my businesses would take my wealth to just over £10million.
"I'm back into flooring because its what I do best I'm doing this because I want to - not because I need to."
We found 39-year-old Gemmell driving his £64,000 Hummer HZ with the personalised plate D4 DDY. Among the other residents of his luxury block in the west end of Glasgow is the city's Lord Provost Bob Winter.
He says his fortune also includes a villa on Palm Jumeirah and an apartment in the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building in Dubai; a club and apartment in Moscow and an apartment, a house and commercial properties in both Glasgow and London.
Three days before his Larry's Laminate land empire went bust in April 2005, Gemmell secretly fled the country to enjoy a new life of luxury in Dubai and Russia. Following the collapse of his empire, his former staff were left to pick up the pieces of their lives after pay cheques bounced.
In June 2007, Gemmell was banned for nine years from being a company director after a Government probe into the affairs of his business empire.
Investigators found he had transferred £645,000 of company funds into his personal bank account in Dubai, just before his firms collapsed with debts of more than £500,000. By law, he should have used that money to pay his staff and creditors.
An Insolvency Service spokesman said: "Darren Gemmell. caused Robyn's Rug Gallery Ltd to transfer funds totalling £645,000 to the HSBC Dubai account in payment of an apparent debt due to him by Larry's Laminate Land Ltd which payment was a transaction to his benefit and to the detriment of the general body of creditors."
Findlay Hamilton, the insolvency firm dealing with the liquidation, were left to try to get creditors their money back in 2005. At the time, the firm's Bryce Findlay said debts total led around £500,000 with creditors ranging from floor suppliers to the Inland Revenue.
On Friday, Mr Findlay said the liquidation had been passed to another firm, Moore Stephens.
No one from the firm could be contacted for comment yesterday. No one from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) could be contacted either.
While Gemmell has been living a life of luxury, his former staff members have found life a lot harder. In an interview three years ago, former Larry's store manager Billy Melrose, 35, from Falkirk, said: "It took six months to get back on my feet. It's galling to think while we struggled, Gemmell was living it up. Twenty- five of us were out on our ears with no money to pay the bills.
"I now have a good job but it has taken this long to get my life back on track."
Melrose said he didn't want to comment yesterday but another former worker said: "All the staff were devastated at the time. We all had mortgages and bills to pay.
'It is sickening to know Gemmell was living the high life in Dubai and Russia while we are all scrabbling about looking for work to make ends meet. People will find it hard to take that he's still boasting about his wealth."
In March 2005, Gemmell pled guilty at Stirling Sheriff Court to threatening his estranged wife Gillian at their home in Drymen, Stirlingshire, and was fined £350. The couple, who have two children together, later divorced.
In 1996, Gemmell was the victim of a mystery shooting in Yoker, Glasgow. Richard McCluskey, the man who was charged with trying to murder him, was cleared after Gemmell failed to identify him in the dock.
I've been up all night counting my cash
Callous Darren Gemmell. loves flaunting his wealth - despite the hardship caused to others by his businesses' collapse. In 2007, while in hiding in Dubai and Russia, Gemmell taunted former staff and creditors by sending snaps to the Sunday Mail showing how he was enjoying the good life.
In one pic, he was seen in Red Square in Moscow. And he even complained about the photos we used in the Sunday Mail. He moaned: "Could you use a more recent photo? I was looking rough that day as I had been up all night counting my money!"
Among the photographs of himself he sent us were ones featuring himself posing with a £150,000 Ferrari 360 Modena and his Hummer HZ outside his luxury flat in the tax haven of Dubai.
He also sent in one showing him posing in front of the pyramids on a break in Egypt.
Gemmell said at the time: "Fortunately I'm a talented boy who finds it easy to make money so it (his businesses' failure) didn't bother me too much.
"I just jetted off to the sun and a whole new beginning but I'm not sure that the staff were so fortunate. If you're ever in Dubai, give me a shout and I'll even let you buy me a bottle of Bollinger."
Gemmell paid £1million for a villa in the Palm complex, where owners include David and Victoria Beckham, and bought a flat on nearby Jumeirah beach.
He funded the purchases from a £2million bank account he had already set up in Dubai before his fi rms went under.