In light of Formula 1 magnate Bernie Ecclestone pleading guilty to over £400 million worth of fraud, we are taking a look back in time at some of the other crooked and criminal sports owners who have attempted to use their position for personal gain.
Criminal Sports Owners
Josep Bartomeu & Sandro Rosell – Barcelona Corruption Scandal
You have to rewind to 2010 for the start of this story – around about the time where Barcelona were toppling everything and anyone in their path.
The economic constraints placed on them by La Liga in recent seasons can be directly traced back to former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu, who are paired together in the first section of our criminal sports owners case study.
Rosell, coincidentally, was an advisor to the man who has been tasked with cleaning up his mess – current president Joan Laporta. After taking over from Laporta is his first stint as president, Rosell oversaw the marquee signing of Neymar, which would later signal the end of his short-lived tenure.
Spanish just Pablo Ruz ordered a hearing to investigate Rosell for alleged misappropriation of funds over the signing. His eventual successor, Josep Bartomeu, revealed that the true cost of the transfer was just under €30million more than previously thought, with €40million paid to a company owned by Neymar’s father.
The years following were littered with suspicious dealings under Bartomeu, however.
Firstly, payments totalling over €2million were made to a social monitoring company called I3 Ventures – all of which were under the threshold to trigger authorisation from board. Not only were they thought to have over-paid, which alerted a tax investigation, but stories defending the president and smear campaigns to try and damage the reputation of players and senior figures are believed to have been sanctioned by Bartomeu himself.
The ordeal led to Catalan police raiding the club’s offices and arresting Bartomeu and several other key figures.
Add to that the ongoing case involving both former presidents and alleged payments made to former vice president of the refereeing committee – José María Enríquez Negreira – and you have countless examples of corruption and false administration.
Bernie Eccleston – £416m Fraud Case
Ah Bernie, the taxman has finally caught up.
Just last week the Formula One chief, now 92-years-old, paid out around a quarter of his fortune to HMRC after pleading guilty to concealing £416million in overseas assets.
Although he attempted to dodge trial by claiming it could kill him, Eccleston was handed a 17-month suspended sentence before agreeing to pay £652million to the authorities.
Lenient to say the least; one rule for one, and one for another as they say.
He has often cut a divisive figure. Despite nurturing F1 for nearly 40 years until the end of his reign 2017 and turning it into the cash-laden global phenomenon it is today, he has not been without his controversies.
Sympathising with Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin, making racially insensitive remarks after the murder of George Floyd, a litany of misogynistic quotes as well as countless payouts to settle alleged bribery cases. This latest transgression is but a ripple in the tsunami that is the F1 tycoon’s life.
Joe Lewis – Tottenham Owner’s Insider Trading Ordeal
British billionaire Joe Lewis, the former majority owner of ENIC Group who previously owned Tottenham Hotspur, was indicted with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy in the summer of 2023.
He is believed to have abused his position as the founder of investment firm Tavistock Group, and gave close friends, romantic partners and fellow businessman insider trading information about companies he had commercial interests in.
Lewis, who is worth in the region of £5bn, relinquished ownership of Spurs to the Lewis Family Trust, of whom he is not a beneficiary, in October 2022.
Despite 13 of his charges carrying sentences of 20 years, he secured his freedom with a $300million bond secured against his private aircraft and yacht.
It would appear money really does talk.
Andy Pilley – Fleetwood’s Fraudulent Owner
Money couldn’t find the necessary words to keep former Fleetwood Town owner out of prison, after he was sentenced to 13 years in jail in July 2023.
Pilley, who had already served a four-month prison sentence in 1998 for planning to steal from the Post Office, was found guilty of orchestrating a multi-million fraud network.
Extortionate, long-term gas and electricity contracts amounting to £15million were sold to misled customers, while he was also found guilty of posting fake customer reviews on various websites.
It was later revealed that a juror was approached by two ‘thick-set’ men in a park, who offered £20,000 to find Pilley guilty. It wasn’t until after the conviction was announced that they informed the police of the threat, with the juror even fleeing overseas after being told there would be ‘consequences.’
Jim Isray – Intoxicated in Indiana
Despite being a hugely successful sports owner after the Indianapolis Colts clinched the 2006 Super Bowl under his tenure, Jim Isray has a colourful past to say the least.
Local prosecutors decided not to press charges following a DEA investigation, after the Isray admitted to having a painkiller addiction in 2002.
Over a decade later however, Isray was pulled over by police after being caught recklessly driving. While he did fail a roadside sobriety test, it wasn’t for any of the dozens of prescription bottle found in his car – he later admitted to being under the influence of highly addictive painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone.
He was charged with intoxicated driving and four counts of possession of a controlled substance – there was also a suspicious amount of cash in the backseat believed to have been worth just under $30,000.
Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner at the time, also sanctioned a $500,000 fine and a six-game ban for the Colts head honcho.
Carson Yeung – Birmingham City’s Laundering Ex-Owner
The former chairman of Birmingham City, Carson Yeung, was convicted by prosecutors in Hong Kong back in March 2014 after being found guilty of laundering £55m through personal and business accounts.
After an initial appeal was rejected by the court, he was sentenced to six years in prison. However, a few months later the court of appeal in Hong Kong granted him permission to appeal the conviction once more, and released him on a HK$7 million bail – he was forced to stay in the city and hand over any travel documents however.
Little under a year later in 2016, his second appeal was rejected and he was taken into custody.
His tenure with the Blues was also nothing short of disastrous, and signalled the decline of the club which is now hoping to be rectified by star-studded names such as minority owner Tom Brady and new manager Wayne Rooney.
After relegation from the Premier League in 2011 and Yeung’s subsequent run-in with the law, the club were forced to sell a whole host of key names and reported revenue losses of £15m.
They have failed to finish higher than 10th since their first year in the Championship.
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