Tomb Raider Composer Peter Connelly Jailed for COVID Loan Fraud

Peter Connelly, a composer and sound designer best known for his work on the Tomb Raider series, has been jailed for “fraudulently obtaining” a UK government loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement from the UK Insolvency Service (via IGN), Connelly, from Durham, allegedly obtained a legitimate loan of $29,500 (£22,000) from the government, and then again a month later, for $50,000 (£37,500) from another bank, even though businesses were entitled to only one such loan. Connelly was also accused of having “deliberately inflated” his company’s financial position during the early months of the pandemic in 2020, reporting a turnover of $201,500 (£150,000) in 2019 when, in reality, it was $77,900 (£58,000).

In interviews with the Insolvency Service, Connelly claimed he had the opportunity to reimagine the music for the Tomb Raider soundtrack, describing it as a “significant project with the potential to be very lucrative.” He reportedly took out personal loans and sold his car to fund the work, but it “stalled” at the start of the pandemic. In August 2021, Connelly’s company, Peter Connelly Limited, went into liquidation.

At a Durham court yesterday, July 17, the composer was sentenced to 16 months in prison and was disqualified from being a company director for six years.

While working at Core Design, the original developer of Tomb Raider, Connelly worked on sound design for Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft and later as lead composer on Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: Chronicles. The 2003 game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, which Connelly co-wrote with Martin Iveson, featured the London Symphony Orchestra.

After Core, Connelly worked on projects such as 2011’s Driver: San Francisco at Ubisoft Reflections, Watch Dogs, The Crew, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and most recently, 2023’s Dead Island 2.