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By the time this post goes out we will be a couple hours away from either having a great weekend or having a drink induced slumber party. Well tonight will hopefully see us well clear of relegation and the start of a great weekend without the wrist slashing of the last couple of weeks.
This weekend I thought it would be good to take you back to the fiasco of Ken Bates and his ownership of Chelsea, the comedy gold of some of his business dealings and how he evaded the Financial Services Authority and how he almost got shot by the Russians for shafting Abramovitch. Lets also remember that this shyster was allowed to take over at Leeds even though there was an FBI Arrest Warrant out for him, and still is, and hence the reason he will never visit the States. Imagine a film based on this small summary alone and would be much more realistic than ‘Catch me if you can’. This guy has embezeled and walked through loopholes in regulations in countless countries around the world. This is just a whizz through his time at Chelsea. When he perfected the scam that would see him rape Leeds Utd
Anyone wanting to know why the yanks want him can use google but in a short summary its to do with a Caribbean island which was basically a huge quarry and everyone who lived on the island worked in the quarry. Bates conned the UK Government into giving him mining rights as the island was going bust. So lovely Ken said he would sort it out and the government even gave him a couple of million. The island residents were classed as US Citizens and the US government had an International agreement (Treaty) that said the Brits managed the island and were responsible for the US nationals and Bates promised the UK government that there would be no redundancies as he had a plan to sort it all out and make the quarry profitable. Well Uncle ken went in sacked everyone and sold the quarry, making himself a few million and did a runner. The FBI went after him…… The money Ken embezzled from the UK government meant we were chasing him but he set up a company that meant all the money went to it and the sole Director was his new wife Suzanna.
This was the start of some shady dealings that I could write a book on, but the period from 1982 when he bought Chelsea for £1 was the biggest scam in football history. The sale of Chelsea back in 2002/3 to Abramovitch was comedy gold and after that because he was an FA Director they wanted shut of him too but couldn’t get rid, so actually gave him the job of managing the building of New Wembley. We are still paying way over the odds now because of the way the price rocketed and the timescale over ran by a couple of years. The FA cannot cover the costs now without doing all sorts of deals for football finals, play off semis and finals, rock concerts. Well done Ken and by the way why did you allow him to buy Leeds?
We all know the story of Forward Sports Fund (FSF) Teak Trading, and a whole list of dodgy shell companies Bates and mates used to shaft Leeds and empty the accounts every year. Well at Chelsea it was inspirational and completely screwed over Abramovitch’s team. When Bates sold the club to the Russian they didn’t have a ground to play on because Bates had moved the stadium into another company and the football club into separate company, which meant he bought the club without a ground. It cost the Russian another £20m to get the ground and at one stage there was a story that there was a contract out on Bates.
Some of you will know the name Mark Taylor because he was a Director of Leeds Utd and came with Bates, in fact Taylor was behind every scam and yet he was Leeds Utd solicitor, a Director of the club and in Fact a Director of 69 companies??? Most of which are now no longer trading and a few that still are forced Taylor to resign….
David Conn the Guardian journalist has been chasing Bates and mates since 1999 without ever having nailed him. The evidence Conn found has been compelling yet botched investigations by FSA and other bodies including serious fraud squad etc turned up nothing but brown envelops sales went through the roof. The Chelsea sale needed all shares to be clarified yet 14% were missing? Bates said he wasn’t allowed to name the owners under a legal ordnance concocted by courts in British Virgin Islands and Nassau (Remember the Administration of Leeds and FSF) FSA investigated but found 5 Shell Companies: Chelsea village, Ecspress, Catstone (British Virgin islands) Cervantes (Cooke Islands) Kalbarri (Samoa) Yellow Park (Mautitius) 2 of these shell companies were used to move money out of Leeds too.
So Bates made a personal profit of £17m from the sale of the club and he also made another £20m from selling the ground. On top of that he also made another £8m from the named offshore shell companies, as it was obvious that the lost 14% of shares were his and Mark Taylors but the FSA couldn’t prove it. £45m in the pocket of Bates and mates and as part of the sale the Russian found out he was also responsible for servicing £80m of debt Bates had run up at he club.
Bates and Taylor floated Chelsea on the Stock Exchange in 1996 and that’s when they used a bunch of offshore shell companies so that they could get around Stock Exchange rules of ownership. I believe they have amended these rules now but at the time it was easy for Bates to shaft investors and saddle them with £80m debt. A company called Ryssafe (Hong Kong) was used for 66% of the shares which were transferred to another company in Guernsey called Swann management which was owned by his old mate and well known dodgy accountant Patrick Murrin (Remember him from the Leeds fiasco?) Murrin turned out to also be a Director of Chelsea Harbour, Chelsea Village, Chelsea Athletic (Where they moved the stadium) Chelsea Sporting, Chelsea properties, Chelsea Stadium (No stadium) Chelsea racing, Chelsea Pitch Owners (No pitch)
A web of deceit, a web of lies and false companies all hidden behind a veil of secrecy and all these companies were was a post office box number. Everyone who knew Bates soon found out he was toxic yet he was handed tax payers millions, he stole, defrauded and sequestered funds, he laundered money and yet he was allowed to own football clubs, even after he raped the FA on the Wembley project.
So this piece is for the likes of Chippy who has called Radz a bent robber who is raping the club. No mate this is what a bent robber looks like
