I noticed the #Derby #takeover is looking on shaky legs from the reporting today - Quelle surprise!

In addition to the thread & background Offshore/Samuelson/Obolensky, thought it might be worth posing more questions

How do these people/structures work?
independent.co.uk/sport/football…
I've read quite a lot about ⚽️ finances & the machinations of 💸 in the offshore world.

So, I'll try and give some crude speculation below (with a couple of factual references) & see if we get anywhere near the mark 🧐

Money Men - Fronts - Frauds bbc.co.uk/sport/football…
Trust/Offshore Companies are involved in Fiduciary Duties

They take sources of funds (often from discreet, cautious & sometimes nefarious characters)

It is then their job then to create structures to protect, move, make accessible (& sometimes invest💸)

mutrust.eu/index.php
Once companies have been formed, paper trials created and money moved, these new companies can be used to purchase assets, join funds or take loans.

So, lets take an example;

Mr X from Outer Mongolia has got his hands on £5m. He's used a Trust/Formation agent to siphon that 💸 ImageImage
- into a newly created offshore vehicle with a fresh identity & little transparency

Maybe Mr X has a mate (Mr Y) who he knew or was introduced to by these connectors

The money flows around & suddenly a new co. has £10m in cash - They're liquid & ready to roll 💸

Next step... ImageImage
Create a legend, manage to get additional finance (loans) & bingo! We have enough to talk to English ⚽️ clubs about a takeover.

Problem being, there is no real ongoing business or revenue streams behind this new pot of 💰 so when Mr X & Mr Y get their hands on a club, what now? Image
Well, running a ⚽️ club is expensive (and often loss making) but they do have revenue streams & assets.
So, let's get some more loans to start with

Banks are wary, so for example, lets go to Mr Samuelson's friend in the British Virgin Islands #Vibrac

Secretive, but we know...
Vibrac is owned by Michael Tabor

Done well out of Gambling & investment

Is big friends with - Joe Lewis [Spurs], Robert Earle [x Everton], Philip Green [💸] John Magneir & JP McManus [Horse racing & Man U fame] & others in the Sandy Lane crew! ⬇️

Mr Tabor is willing to loan... Image
Act as the bank, because it's his £ underwriting the loan and he understands football club finances (you make fat returns % if the loan is paid off on schedule & if it isn't you secure against saleable assets - Players/Grounds etc)

Mr Green/EFC 🧐

So we've now got a chain💸⚽️ Image
Shady Money ➡️ Obscured & legitimised by Offshore/Trust agent (they take fees 💸) ➡️ People behind shady money acquire football club (there may also be a 'front man' involved to further obscure the picture & again, Formation agent takes a fee 💸) ➡️ Loans to run the club...
(Again, back offshore to our friendly finance provider & you guessed it, offshore formation agent/broker takes a fee 💸).

Now, servicing those loans is expensive & without promotion to the Premier League or big player trading profits, you need to find some more 💸 from somewhere Image
So, you look to investment schemes/finance.

-Commercial property fractional share sales (See Bury FC, Lendy, Car Park space sales etc)
-VAT Carousel Tax Fraud
-Ponzi schemes

It starts to get very murky!

Mr X & Mr Y realise the game is up, siphon as much cash out of the club b4 ImageImage
The the inevitable 'cash crunch'!

No problem though, because guess what?!
After an exhaustive search our Offshore/Trust/Agent/Broker has found a new investor.
Rinse, Repeat & the broker gets a fee 💸

There's actually a final part to these scams (liquidators/administrators) ImageImage
They can also be part of the mechanics - Just look at some of the characters involved

Football clubs are like spigots that various nefarious characters can plug into and drain cash from until they cant anymore and move on

Hot bed of fraud = Bury, Wigan, Birmingham City, Villa.. ImageImage
Macclesfield, Barrow, Chester etc etc...

There are template scams

They are everywhere - AIM is a hotbet 🧐

Loose regulation & obscure structures = Chance of investment fraud, money laundering & crime structures

Sports journalists, team up with finance pro's #Investigate 🕵️‍♂️
@threadreaderapp Unroll please...

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Art Of Positive Skepticism

The Art Of Positive Skepticism Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Livooo

2 Feb
@BBCPanorama #boxingandthemob #kinahan #MTK

Here's an interesting parallel tale from 1980's boxing! 🥊

#HaroldSmith

1.Dark Money (Fraud/Stole from banks)
2.Associated with big name boxer (Ali)
3.Paid Boxers/Trainers over the odds
4.Laundered stolen💸

If you control the big name (e.g. Fury) & there is a lack of scrutiny in professional boxing - Bingo!

-Big name📸📺
-Grow brand📈
-Attract more fighters🥊💰
-Appear mainstream
-More shows/opportunities 2 launder💸
-Side deals (podcasts/clothing/vodka/property)🤝💱
-Big following ImageImageImage
In some ways - Hats off - Good business!

Entertainment product - Fans - Leverage brand✅

Key issues though;

According to Irish, Spanish, UK police the source of those funds R allegedly from criminal enterprises!

(Drugs, Logistics/Trafficking, Weapons, 💰Laundering services).
Read 4 tweets
25 Jan
Bigger than #ElChapo bigger than #PabloEscobar 💉💊☠️💰

Big news then, I guess 👀

#TseChiLop
#SamGorSyndicate

Huge numbers! $400 billion+ pa 🌎🌍🌏
National security type influence.

Social - Political - Economic

Where does all that money go? 🤔🔁💸
Image
When illegal drug operations get this big, they cross borders, networks become huge & they need protection/assistance

According to well documented incidents, intelligence agencies sometimes oversee 👀

Political expedience
#VangPao #Laos #KhunSa #Golden🔺
There are loads of other well-documented episodes

The untraceable huge sums of 💰 from drugs come in very handy for clandestine funding of "off the books" type operations

#PlausibleDeniability

When you're fighting for national interests, can it be justified? #ColdWar ImageImageImageImage
Read 7 tweets
22 Jan
@martynziegler @TheAthleticUK

#disruption
The 'buzz word' in business - Footy is soon to get it's dose

What's this about though?

#Control #Money #power

These 'Elite' club owners will point to #UEFA & #FIFA chequered pasts & say "We'll do it better"

Despite massive numbers in revenues💰💱 Football clubs are so bloated, the top guys feel they need more!

For long term planning, they need control of the rules of competition too.

The huge swathes of capital hoarded by the investment banks/rich are willing to fund this new comp
The #PremierLeague will end up a place for the 'Elite' teams in the new #EuropeanSuperLeague to play their so called reserve squads - Because the rewards on offer merit that.

That said, with the huge revenues they will dominate, those reserve squads will still be the best ⚽️🤯💁
Read 7 tweets
3 Jan
1/
"Life imitating art" 📽️

Saw a headline last week about the #VaticanBank being involved in some mysterious money flows, so decided to watch the newly edited #Godfather 3 #Coda

Topical

For those that don't know the connections, read on... Gives the📽️an added dimension 👀🕵️‍♀️ ImageImage
2/
In the film, Michael #Corleone is effectively trying to break from the #Mafia life & channel his family wealth into something 'legit'

To do that, he tries to exploit an opportunity with the #VaticanBank who are attempting to plug holes in their balance sheet

#Immobiliare 💸 Image
3/
In the film, #Immobiliare is a real estate vehicle owned by the Vatican & #DonCorleone wants to buy-in with his ill gotten gains & create a European conglomerate that will elevate the family for generations to come

Now for the obvious (& not so obvious) parallels with reality Image
Read 17 tweets
7 Nov 20
*Football, Finance, Front Companies & Exotic Benefactors*

1/

I saw a story this week about @DerbyCounty_TT & their looming takeover - Sounds exciting!

Something really piqued my interest though

A couple of names in the report that I've seen before

#Offshore 🕵️‍♂️⚽️💸🌴 Image
2/

The two 'Shadow Brokers' who get fleeting mentions over the last 15 years as the cast of foreign ownership in English football has become increasingly... 'cosmopolitan' are;

*Chris Samuelson* & *Andrew Obolensky*

Who are they?

What do they do??

Why should we care??? Image
3/

Well, they've appeared in a few books I've read over the years, so I did some searches to try and understand more & connect the dots.

In a nutshell, they seem to be;

*FORMATION AGENTS*
*INNOVATIVE FINANCE PROFESIONALS*
*NETWORKERS/CONNECTORS*

#ShellCompanies #Offshore ImageImageImageImage
Read 23 tweets
7 Oct 20
#Thread
1/

In the run up to the #USPresidentialElections2020 when the characters & stories seem more mind-boggling than ever, it can be difficult to discern...
'How the fuck did the world end up here'?

Some great answers/insight here #Kleptopia 👏📕
💸
2/
Uncivil & Outright Criminal Behaviour seems to have been normalised throughout societies everywhere;

- Politics
- Crony Capitalism
- Social Media
- Reality TV
... Even Sport 🧐

I've tried to get my head around it with the help of some good books & following smart journo's Image
3/

To understand the rise of;
-Strongman leaders
-Autocrats
-Dictators
-Kleptocrats
-Crooks
-Spooks
-Shady financiers
-Conmen

& other maniacal actors worldwide, there's some good reading in the pics below & above👀

#politicains #bankers #crooks #spooks #crime #money #power Image
Read 26 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!