Football fans have been shocked to learn of a long-running multimillion-dollar “scheme” to allow extremely wealthy but convicted criminals to buy English football clubs. A two-year undercover investigation into the Al Jazeera network has revealed how the wildly popular clubs are the perfect vehicles for laundering money from these foreign buyers.
An Al Jazeera reporter goes undercover as a representative of a fictional Chinese billionaire in search of an English football club to hide his ill-gotten wealth. They coordinated with offshore finance expert Chris Samuelson and former Scotland Yard detective Keith Hunter.
Samuelson is a prominent but opaque businessman who has been a dealmaker or broker for football deals for decades. It pairs Chinese and Russian buyers with owners of prestigious football clubs such as Reading, Hull City, Derby County, Aston Villa and even Chelsea.
The three buyers he revealed in hidden camera footage were Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich, former Reading boss Anton Zingarevic and the convicted Chinese businessman who once owned Aston Villa Tony Xia.
The undercover reporter told Samuelson that her boss and potential investor/club buyer “Mr. X” was a wealthy Chinese businessman with a shady backstory. Mr. X fled to Hong Kong after being charged and convicted in absentia in mainland China. He also served seven years on bribery and money laundering charges but was able to smuggle much of his wealth through Macau’s casinos.
Samuelson told reporters that Mr X’s background was not an issue and that his wealth and identity could easily be hidden behind a series of offshore trusts. He also suggested they used “dirty tricks” to fool unsuspecting football authorities. The English Football League’s rules are strict about ownership and make it clear that no criminals or ex-convicts can own the club and buyers must prove how they received the funds.
With Mr X’s interest in the ‘sleeping giant’, Samuelson insists one of England’s top six teams in the Champions League would be a good fit. On the fee side, Samuelson’s commission is 3 percent of gross sales. He also provides a detailed guide on how to transfer funds to an offshore account in Gibraltar. Mr X can also obtain a new identity through a Cypriot EU passport worth 10 million euros.
When they coordinated with Keith Hunter, they were shocked to discover that he was able to give them access to a competitor’s bank accounts and personal information. The undercover operation culminated in a bogus buyer close to closing a deal for Derby County Football Club, one of England’s oldest football clubs.
Fans will see the ramifications of this investigation in the coming months. English football teams are hugely popular because they are part of the history, heritage and community, with clubs dating back to the 1850s. Fans need to hold officials more accountable so they can protect their loved ones from criminals who see them as temporary stashes of illicit funds.
