If a regulator is too frightened to harpoon a billionaire whale like Sir Philip Green, it might as well hook a sprat like Dominic Chappell, a thrice-bankrupt retail novice who bought a failing company and an insolvent pension fund for a £1 (U.S.$1.3)—or the price of a litre of milk—without questioning why it was so cheap.

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...