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A hundred football stars caught in £30million investment scam linked to former player

Discussion in 'Queens Park Rangers' started by kiwiqpr, Jan 4, 2015.

  1. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    A hundred football stars caught in £30million investment scam linked to former player
    Robbie Keane and Jimmy Bullard are among the star names said to have lost money in a scheme fronted by former player Michael McIndoe
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    A hundred football stars are feared to have been caught in an alleged £30million investment con.
    Players said to have lost out include Jimmy Bullard, who also starred in I’m A Celebrity, and Irish legend Robbie Keane.
    Police believe the alleged fraud may be the biggest swindle ever to hit the British game.
    Up to 100 players including former Spurs, Liverpool and Ireland legend Robbie Keane and ex-Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard are said to have been lured by promises of a huge 20%-a-month return.
    But the scheme collapsed amid huge debts and detectives are probing alleged links to massive gambling on soccer matches.
    Bookmakers William Hill have handed investigators details of the betting account of Michael McIndoe, a retired player who led a lavish lifestyle and is said to have recruited other footballers into the investment venture.
    Former Coventry, Wolves and Scotland midfielder McIndoe, 35, went bankrupt in October with disclosed debts of £3million. But recovery experts believe that is the tip of the iceberg.
    A source close to the case said: “The money lost has been astronomical. The £3million mentioned in his insolvency papers is a very conservative figure.
    “It could be up to £15million once all the money is traced.”
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    Under investigation: Michael McIndoe
    Bullard, 36, whose clubs also included Hull City and who appeared on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity last month, lost £650,000. Losses of Dublin-born striker Keane, 34, now with LA Galaxy, have been described as “a fortune”.
    One international star is understood to have invested £1million. Another recently retired player lost nearly £500,000.
    Fraud squad officers have been checking scores of named players since the alleged con was reported to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau last year. The FA is believed to be aware of the probe.
    Big earning stars are not thought to be the only victims. Lower league players are also said to have been recruited. And a victim from outside football is said to have invested a £60,000 inheritance, bequeathed to him after he was orphaned as a teenager.
    One theory police are investigating is that it may have been a Ponzi scheme, a type of scam named after 1920s fraudster Charles Ponzi. Some people who sign up may get early returns. But what they receive is cash paid in by others who have been recruited since, not from investments.
    Most investors who are promised a healthy return will lose out as the scheme inevitably collapses.
    Police and creditors uncovered a trail of abandoned addresses in London or Scotland linked to Scots-born McIndoe, who has dated glamour models Helena Fletcher and Emma Frain.
    Companies House records show he became director of several businesses in 2011 after retiring from football.
    One McIndoe venture was aimed at footballers and promised exclusive access to nightclubs and private jets.
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    Investor: Irish legend Robbie Keane 'lost a fortune'
    One investor said: “For the first 14 or 15 months no one questioned him. But people now know they are unlikely to ever get their money back.”
    Details of his playboy lifestyle will infuriate players who handed over cash.
    McIndoe, who was twice capped in Scotland’s B team, rented a £4,000-a-week suite in London’s five-star Mayfair Hotel. He also had in an apartment in Eaton Square, one of the UK’s poshest addresses lying in the exclusive Belgravia district of the capital.
    A porter said yesterday that McIndoe had not been seen there for two years. Investigators also believe he rented a property in Rutland Street, Knightsbridge, West London, for £11,000 a month during 2013.
    He drove luxury cars including a Bentley and a Maybach and wore expensive clothes. McIndoe ran lavish parties at clubs including Funky Buddha in London and is believed to have ploughed money into private members’ club Stamp on Oxford Street.
    Details of McIndoe’s account with William Hill, given to official receivers, reveal an astonishing betting spree.
    He made regular £2,000 transfers into the account, including seven over a period of eight days in February 2011.
    He put money on hundreds of soccer matches as well as on American football, boxing, horse-racing and even TV’s X Factor talent show.
    Bets were placed virtually daily on matches in the UK, Australia, Turkey and even Peru.
    There were 561 online bets in a period of less than 18 months – from November 28, 2010, to May 5, 2012. Many were accumulators, in which the punter tries to predict a string of results.
    His largest stake was £15,000 on Inter Milan to beat Bari and Crawley to beat Kettering on February 3, 2011. He lost the bet because Crawley and Kettering drew.
    Other heavy losses included £13,000 predicting Chesterfield would win at Stockport on February 1, 2011. The game ended a 1-1 draw.
    He also put £5,400 on Manchester City to beat Notts County in the FA Cup on January 30 2011. That match was also a 1-1 draw.
    McIndoe lost £400 backing One Direction and then Rebecca Ferguson to win the X Factor in 2010.
    The total amount he staked on that account at Hill’s was £391,955 and his winnings were £309,505.76 – a loss of £82,449.24.
    But sources believe his total gambling losses could have been between £500,000 and £1million.
    McIndoe was declared bankrupt at London’s High Court under the Insolvency Act on October 14.
    Legal papers showed liabilities of £3,021,468.70.
    Insolvency practitioners O’Haras Ltd, based in West Yorkshire, are trustees of his bankruptcy estate.
    The firm’s director, Stephen O’Hara, said: “We are looking to recover monies which have been lost through his gambling habits.”
    A spokesperson for Westminster CID said: “An allegation of fraud was made in February. An investigation is ongoing. There has been no arrest.”
    McIndoe, who was popular in Midlands football circles, sought investments at meetings with businessmen and footballers at plush hotels like Hilton Hall in Featherstone, Staffs.
    He allegedly claimed he was working with hedge fund managers, bank managers and businessmen.
    An investor said: “He was very convincing and the best salesman you could meet. At the end of the meeting he would take money and put it in a briefcase and get back in the car.”
    Players who saw initial returns recommended the investment scheme to teammates, friends and family. But the scheme collapsed at the end of 2011.

    McIndoe left a luxury home in Leamington Spa, Warwicks, at that time. He then re-appeared in London, where sources said he continued to live the high life and convinced footballers to put money into a London nightspot.
    One player who asked not to be named said he invested £100,000 with McIndoe. He said: “I played with him in the past and I think he used that to lure me in.
    “I could name six or seven players who want their money back from McIndoe. I was due to get some money back on one date and then it was pushed back to another date. I am now speaking to my advisers and considering legal advice. I am wondering where all the money has gone.”
    A source close to the probe added: “In all, footballers are thought to have handed over up to £30million to those behind the scheme. But those who were conned are determined to do all they can to get their money back.”
    McIndoe played for Wolves in 2006 and 2007, then Bristol City and finally Coventry City from 2009 to 2011.
    He has eight current and past directorships. One firm, Lafayette Restaurants, had accumulated losses of £231,227 on December 31, 2012.
    Another, Huxley London Concierge, was incorporated in July 2011 and dissolved September 2012.
    It produced one set of accounts and reported a loss of £37,620. McIndoe was the sole director and shareholder.
    McIndoe was born in the Sighthill district of Edinburgh and has spoken in the past about his tough upbringing and his battle to overcome drink and gambling problems.
    In a separate matter, South Yorkshire Police confirmed today that McIndoe is on bail charged with GBH related to an incident in Doncaster last November.
    Scotland Yard today confirmed that an investigation is taking place into the claims linked to McIndoe.
     
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  2. Sooperhoop

    Sooperhoop Well-Known Member

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    I read about this a few months back, it's the same old story of greed begatting greed. Pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes all rely on a silver-tongued snake-oil salesman to reel in the mugs and McIndoe's your man.

    I'm surprised that the high-earners didn't have financial advisers dealing with their dirty-filthy-lucre but then mention Jimmy Bullard and you don't even need the snake-oil-salesman.

    The world of football is now so detached from reality that these type of telephone-number sized scams fit perfectly into the fantasy world they live in. The ones I do have sympathy for are the lower-league players he's shafted who have probably lost everything and will have nothing to show for their career's efforts.

    As the old saying goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is"...
     
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  3. StortfordQPR

    StortfordQPR Well-Known Member

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    My favourite line......."Details of his playboy lifestyle will infuriate players who handed over cash" <laugh>

    Unlike us fans who pay to watch overpaid "stars" :emoticon-0138-think
     
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  4. Wherever

    Wherever Well-Known Member

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    Hey Jimmy, I'm from Nigeria and have $12400000000 dollars to get out the country send me your bank details and I'll ......
     
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  5. rrrrrs

    rrrrrs Well-Known Member

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    A fool & his money ........................
     
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  6. Uber_Hoop

    Uber_Hoop Well-Known Member

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    As Gordon Gekko in the film 'Wall Street' said,"...are lucky to get together in the first place".

    I don't agree, however, with anybody that's amused by the fact that a rich, semi-stupid, professional footballer has been duped out of the kind of sums that many of us could ever dream about. A crime is a crime no matter whether the perception is that the victim can afford the loss or not.
     
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  7. sb_73

    sb_73 Well-Known Member

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    I agree in principle, but am struggling to generate much sympathy for the victims in this case. Not so much because they are rich anyway, but more because they are clearly very greedy - 20% returns in a year? FFS.
     
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  8. Uber_Hoop

    Uber_Hoop Well-Known Member

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    It's like they always used to say in the TV show "Hustle", the greediest people make the easiest marks. As I said before, most of these chaps are semi-stupid so they have failed to adhere to the old chestnut that "if it seems too good to be true..." but it doesn't mean they deserve to suffer loss.
     
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  9. Sooperhoop

    Sooperhoop Well-Known Member

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    20% a MONTH was the promise, if money came that easily we'd all be in it...
     
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  10. leicester_ed

    leicester_ed Well-Known Member

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    Not that stupid. At least the footballers were investing to think about setting up a life after football....
     
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  11. sb_73

    sb_73 Well-Known Member

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    If you think this sounds like a kosher deal you must be a banker.

    Really, mind numbingly, super cretinously stupid and immensely greedy to think that some average ex player has access to a secret pot of gold just for them.
     
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  12. leicester_ed

    leicester_ed Well-Known Member

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    Yes, but more the concept of looking to invest savings
     
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  13. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    they should have put the money in a bank earning 2% like the rest of us
     
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  14. Sooperhoop

    Sooperhoop Well-Known Member

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    2%? You'd be f*cking lucky over here!...:grin:
     
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  15. loomo

    loomo Active Member

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    Greed makes people make stupid decisions. This one takes the biscuit. Ive been in the investment business side of things for 25 years and as the old saying goes if it sounds too good to be true then it is. 20% per month would do well to get that in a year. We have helped some footballers with advice and they are so used to agents etc look after things for them that they make daft decisions when left to their own devices, so to be midly fair sometimes its as much ignorance as stupidity
     
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  16. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    just had a quick look at my banks rates and I was wrong

    if you have more than 10000 dollars to invest for 12 months you can get 4.50 % p.a.
    maybe they should find a friendly kiwi to invest their money
     
    #16
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2015
  17. TWGWTDT

    TWGWTDT Well-Known Member

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    Greed always pays you back. Great to also read that a few were taken in. I used to see Bullard a lot in fishing circles as he fishes for Dorking
    Turned up in a blinged out Range Rover most of the time … all the gear... no idea he is a nice bloke however
     
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  18. loomo

    loomo Active Member

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    why is it great some got taken in? for some it would be a loss out of ignorance
     
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