The loans and share acquisitions took place in February last year, not long after O2 followed Three in withdrawing its business from the retailer; the five board members used the sum to buy shares in Phones 4U parent company Phosphorus Jersey Ltd.

The exposures come as PwC released its first administrative progress report, and raise questions over whether Phones 4U management knew about the unsustainability of the company’s position well in advance of its collapse. Last month, Stonehill Capital Management purchased a sizeable proportion of the senior bonds in Phones 4U in order to mount a legal case against BC Partners, the private equity backed that acquired Phones 4U in 2011. At the time, the hedge fund was said to be particularly interested in identifying exactly when management became aware the company was failing.

The report also confirms that secured creditors, such as banks, will receive full repayments for any money owed by Phones 4U, and Phones 4U staff owed a combined £3.4m in unpaid wages will likewise receive full payment in due course. However, contrary to a PwC warning last November that unsecured Phones 4U creditors would at best receive a mere 40 pence in every pound they were owed back, the administrator has now made it clear that unsecured creditors should expect no more than 24 pence in every pound in return.