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Pompey Takeover Saga

Fitzhugh Fella

By Fitzhugh Fella,
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Weston Saint

Weston Saint

Posted
Posted
Until very recently I was an auditor and my day rate was about £450. Given the short time that Vantis had to go through the books, I would imagine they used a very senior and a comparative junior auditor / forensic accountant at £1200 a day for a week on top of the legal advice.
Forensic Accountants I used charged me by the hour. As the report was evidence it was prepared by a senior parner but a lot of the investigation work done by less senior people. PWC used to charge me a smoothing rate of £100 per hour about 8 years ago but invariably their report was between £10,000 and £12,500. I fell out with them when they charged me £25,000 for a report.

 

Audit costs are one thing, forensic accountants tend to charge a lot more.

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bridge too far

bridge too far

Posted
Posted
Forensic Accountants I used charged me by the hour. As the report was evidence it was prepared by a senior parner but a lot of the investigation work done by less senior people. PWC used to charge me a smoothing rate of £100 per hour about 8 years ago but invariably their report was between £10,000 and £12,500. I fell out with them when they charged me £25,000 for a report.

 

Audit costs are one thing, forensic accountants tend to charge a lot more.

 

Bad career move on my part then! No wonder I'm poor :(

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ST Randy

ST Randy

Posted
Posted
Until very recently I was an auditor and my day rate was about £450. Given the short time that Vantis had to go through the books, I would imagine they used a very senior and a comparative junior auditor / forensic accountant at £1200 a day for a week on top of the legal advice.

 

 

Somewhere on this thread it is reported that Vantis's team were 6 strong. So perhaps multiply these costs by 3.

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PES

PES

Posted
Posted

Serious Bit of Investigative amateur Journalism. Implying what many have believed (without evidence) for some?

 

http://www.fansonline.net/pompey-fans/article.php?id=175

 

Pompey-Fans.Com can reveal some potentially intriguing insights into the last few months a Pompey since the 'Al Faraj' takeover.

 

Israeli media sources claim that Daniel Azougy, far from being a low level fraudster, works as a debt collector for Shlomo, (Shelley), Narkis, who carries the sobriquet 'The King of the Grey Market'.

 

Narkis is Israels number one 'grey market lender'. He reputedly has a fortune in excess of £200m. People who have owed him money include;

 

Eli Reifman, whose car was firebombed and who then survived an assassination attempt by machine gun wielding motorcyclists

Boaz Yona the CEO of Heftsiba who fled to Italy when his loans from Narkis were revealed. He was extradited back to Israel and said on his return; "I ran? For shame. Look who's waiting for me in Israel and then you will understand why I didn't arrive."

 

When mob boss Ya'akov Alperon was blown up at a busy Tel Aviv intersection, Narkis was one of the first people to arrive at his house to offer condolences, and also attended his funeral. Alperons' son Omer, (on day release from prison where he was held on remand charged with extortion), interrupted the proceedings, and in a voice choked with tears said, "We'll send whoever did this to the heavens, he will not have a grave, after we remove his head we'll remove his arms."

 

An underworld debt collector, Yossi Afriat was killed in a massive explosion which injured 14 people including a baby. Sources who knew Afriat said he was considered a "freelance" debt collector in the underworld, and that he cooperated over the years with criminals, including members of the Alperon family, Shlomo Narkis, and more recently Abergil. Afriat made a lot of enemies in the course of his work, so his murder may not be related to rivalries among crime organizations. The Alperon and Abergil crime families have been involved in a bitter and bloody war.

 

Despite this series of high profile assassinations the Israeli media have frequently lamented the impotence of the Police in their attempts to make arrests and headway against organised crime.

 

In February last year, as Arkadi Gaydamaks desperation for liquid funds reached crisis proportions, Narkis and Azougy flew to Gaydamaks palatial Moscow residence to discuss loaning him $50m dollars. Gaydamak denied having taken the loan, said to be secured on his assets. However, Azougy turned up at Fratton Park 5 months later.

 

It was during this period that Gaydamak claimed Pompey to be among his assets in an interview. Also, in a hearing in a Tel Aviv district court, lawyers for Joseph Traum, (Arkadi Gaydamaks former partner) told the court in Israel that several of the assets said to belong to Sasha Gaydamak are actually owned by his father. The lawyer Shahar Harary said: "We have evidence that the whole Ports*mouth deal was done in Arkadi Gaydamak's home in Israel." Haray said Arkadi Gaydamak constantly writes his assets under the names of his children or foreign companies for tax reasons and to avoid creditors. Gaydamak was not

present at the hearing.

 

Clearly there was a widespread belief in israel at the time that Pompey belonged to Arkadi Gaydamak.

 

 

Arkadi Gaydamak is on the run from French justice having been convicted of tax evasion, and has been charged with money laundering in Israel. He has seemingly removed himself permanently to Moscow, but sources in the Israeli media familiar with grey market operations have suggested to Pompey-Fans.Com he may soon go to Angola where he enjoys diplomatic level protection, after other prominent Russian Jews said to have borrowed in the Israeli 'grey market' were assassinated in Moscow recently.

 

Azougy, as well as accompanying Narkis to Moscow, was also believed to have offered to negotiate a plea bargain with Gaydamak on behalf of the Israeli Government to settle his money laundering case. If true, it would speak volumes for the close links between Israeli mob and Government. Mr Azougy, despite a whole series of convictions for fraud seems to have been fortunate in receiving remarkably light sentences. In this country, one legal expert contacted by Pompey-Fans.Com has suggested a fourth serious fraud conviction would have carried a long prison sentence. His mob ties and criminal record raise serious questions about his ability to enter and work in this country seemingly with the blessing of the authorities.

 

Pompey-Fans.Com would welcome the opportunity to speak to Azougy, Narkis or Arkadi Gaydamak to set the record straight on any of these issues.

 

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3779302,00.html

 

http://www.calcalist.co.il/local/articles/0,7340,L-3241047,00.html

 

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/jerusalem-post/mi_8048/is_20070814/heftsiba-ceo-linked-israels-1/ai_n47372129/

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=1038586&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/769328.html

 

http://www.calcalist.co.il%2Flocal%2Farticles%2F0%2C7340%2CL-3241047%2C00.html&sl=iw&tl=en

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PES

PES

Posted
Posted
I'd be devastated if persons like that had got hold of the reins at Southampton, PES. I genuinely feel sorry for you guys, the fans. The ones without handbells anyway.

 

Thanks Ponty, scary stuff. Good will come of it all in the end. Football has always had an element of 'dodgyness' about it, I guess this just takes it to another level. Oh well, we carry on.... :)

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Micky

Micky

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Posted

 

You really couldn't make it up. If true, this only endorses what many have been saying here for some time - they should have sold during the transfer window. If thats what they needed to do to stay afloat then that is what they should have done - again, trying to gloss over the issue, keep their players, it is toutamount to cheating. They should have had a bloody firesale and invited all and sundry.

 

The gamble of investment obviously failed, now they want special dispensation to have their very own transfer window. It sucks, it really sucks.

 

If this is allowed to happen then they should only be able to sell to clubs outside of the English football league. Many clubs have spent their transfer window budgets and therefore would be disadvantaged in trying to gain the services of these players (should they want them of course) - therefore if granted, it could have a detrimental affect on other clubs playing in the English league.

 

Personally I think it probably just adds a little more weight to the argument that they have been trading whilst insolvent - but we shall see.

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StDunko

StDunko

Posted
Posted

Earlier in this thread someone mentioned that Vanish were going to sponsor Poopey. I was having an email argument with a skate mate and refined that thought....

 

There are rumours that Pompey are saved. They have managed to secure investment from a new shirt sponsor "Vanish", but only on condition that they revert to their original PINK kit that they wore for their first 11 seasons.

 

A Vanish spokesman said: " It's a perfect opportunity for us to demonstrate the power of Vanish. We will infuse the teams shirts with our product and before you know it the filth will disappear!"

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Fowllyd

Fowllyd

Posted
Posted

 

PES, that's an interesting - and downright scary - post. However, both of the two links I've quoted here come up in Hebrew - the second only comes up at all after inserting a \ in the url.

 

The other four say plenty about Israeli gangland activity and Shlomo Narkis, but I can't see anything there about the Gaydamaks. I'm not saying there's no connection, just that there's nothing in those links to indicate one.

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Saint Keith

Saint Keith

Posted
Posted

from that mirror article, it looks like they are trying to sell the players, but they then cant play for that club this season

 

"hello, sunderland football club"

 

"hi, its peter storrie, from portsmouth. we have got belhadj for sale, would you like to buy him?"

 

"love too, but what about the transfer window?"

 

"dont worry about that, its all sorted. now, about belhadj, how does £8m sound"

 

"yeah, we might be interested"

 

"great. oh by the way, you cant actually play him this season becau....................hello?..........HELLO?...................are you still there?"

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Saint Keith

Saint Keith

Posted
Posted
PES, that's an interesting - and downright scary - post. However, both of the two links I've quoted here come up in Hebrew - the second only comes up at all after inserting a \ in the url.

 

The other four say plenty about Israeli gangland activity and Shlomo Narkis, but I can't see anything there about the Gaydamaks. I'm not saying there's no connection, just that there's nothing in those links to indicate one.

 

lol@ someone called Shlomo Narkis. sounds like a porn star :smt033

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qwertySFC

qwertySFC

Posted
Posted
You really couldn't make it up. If true, this only endorses what many have been saying here for some time - they should have sold during the transfer window. If thats what they needed to do to stay afloat then that is what they should have done - again, trying to gloss over the issue, keep their players, it is toutamount to cheating. They should have had a bloody firesale and invited all and sundry.

 

The gamble of investment obviously failed, now they want special dispensation to have their very own transfer window. It sucks, it really sucks.

 

If this is allowed to happen then they should only be able to sell to clubs outside of the English football league. Many clubs have spent their transfer window budgets and therefore would be disadvantaged in trying to gain the services of these players (should they want them of course) - therefore if granted, it could have a detrimental affect on other clubs playing in the English league.

 

Personally I think it probably just adds a little more weight to the argument that they have been trading whilst insolvent - but we shall see.

 

Plus why take on the loans and freebies .. they really are a bunch of lickspittlers

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PES

PES

Posted
Posted
PES, that's an interesting - and downright scary - post. However, both of the two links I've quoted here come up in Hebrew - the second only comes up at all after inserting a \ in the url.

 

The other four say plenty about Israeli gangland activity and Shlomo Narkis, but I can't see anything there about the Gaydamaks. I'm not saying there's no connection, just that there's nothing in those links to indicate one.

 

It's a conspiracy theory Fowllyd, but one that looks more and more likely every day.

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Fowllyd

Fowllyd

Posted
Posted
Thanks Ponty, scary stuff. Good will come of it all in the end. Football has always had an element of 'dodgyness' about it, I guess this just takes it to another level. Oh well, we carry on.... :)

 

I really did try to resist doing this, but... Might that be the whole new level a certain Mr Storrie was referring to a few months ago? ;)

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Saint Paul C

Saint Paul C

Posted
Posted

 

If that's not an admission that they don't have any cash at all then I'd love to know what is. I can see issues regarding February pay coming up very quickly.

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PES

PES

Posted
Posted
I really did try to resist doing this, but... Might that be the whole new level a certain Mr Storrie was referring to a few months ago? ;)

 

And Mark Jacob's reply to the 'What should Pompey fans expect from the takeover?' question......'Wait and see.' F****** Bond Villains the lot of 'em. 'No Mr. PFC, I expect you to die!' Mwawahahaha! :)

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Lets B Avenue

Lets B Avenue

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Posted

 

From what I've seen of Wilson this season, I don't think his sale would cover Storrie-Teller's hard earned salary this month.:)

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TopGun

TopGun

Posted
Posted
Quite possibly.

 

I took a case to Commercial Court. I had (senior) Junior Counsel very experienced in the type of case. A week before the hearing in London before a very senior Judge we found out the other side had a QC. I was happy with my Counsel but she was uncomfortable and we went with a QC. Hearing was only half a day and he cost me £7,500 for the day's brief as well as her £3,500 to act as his Junior.

She had advised our QC against a certain approach, he went at it like a bull at a gate telling the Judge he had made a similar favourable decision previously. He smiled at my QC and said "yes and it is in the Appreal Court at present" We still had the Judgement handed down in our favour. He was able to bully their QC a little whereas the Junior would not have done the same.

 

Good QC now would charge about £10,000 for the Brief and his Junior (same counsel as PFC used before about £5,000

 

Conference before would cost about £3,000 and would likely include senior partner from Vantis charging about another £1,000.

 

On top of that would be Solicitor representing PFC charging about £400 per hour.

 

This is what it is partly about, no matter the money. If any case is presented well in front of the judge, then it should do ok. I don't personally believe that hiring a QC will make a difference if the case is watertight in the first place.

 

I have seen well paid and very accomplished barristers lose cases because they can not compete with significant or overwhelming evidence many times. It's all in the case files and that might be down to HMRC and the way their lawyers have analysed the evidence initially and then how they use it in front of a judge.

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

Posted
Posted
Serious Bit of Investigative amateur Journalism. Implying what many have believed (without evidence) for some?

 

http://www.fansonline.net/pompey-fans/article.php?id=175

 

 

Pompey-Fans.Com would welcome the opportunity to speak to Azougy, Narkis or Arkadi Gaydamak to set the record straight on any of these issues.

 

 

Interesting stuff PES.

 

The fall out won't stop there though, if this has any resemblance to the truth then apart from the fact that the FAPL have been royally conned, the next set of messy and serious questions will be...

 

How the feck did two "allegedly" prominent Arab businessmen get involved...

 

And no, those question won't be asked in the media, no wonder Al Fahim moved all his assets out of the UAE and Al Mirage has never been seen or heard. For Chess tournament read "On the run"

 

Lol at me enjoying Burn Notice - think our fake Sheiks may be about to get one each as well.

 

Meanwhile in other news

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/18/sulaiman-al-fahim-portsmouth-dubai-debt

 

He denies the debt, then says it is 1.2mil. He denies the interest bill - but accepts there was a court case.

 

He denies he received any money (of course he didn't receive any money - it was his BUSINESS)

 

Oh and he denies the nationality of the plaintiff - he wasn't a Kazakh, he was a Russian. (Hmm interesting couldn't be a coincidence that surely)

 

He's coming back here on Friday - that'll be worth seeing lol

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sussexsaint

sussexsaint

Posted
Posted

 

Christ on a bike that is unbelievable :lol: I take it this is what Story hastily scribbled onto the bottom of the Vantis report yesterday then.

 

Why was it the only person on earth who didn't realise they had to sell players to survive was Story? Even the ones that did go went 'behind his back' according to him

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Foxstone

Foxstone

Posted
Posted
It's a conspiracy theory Fowllyd, but one that looks more and more likely every day.

 

Seems like it PES..

 

I doubt whether Azougy would be around for any other reason except to represent the interests of his Capo !

 

Yes there are past and present people within your club that shoulder the blame for this horrific state of affairs, but the EPL are looking more and more like dipsy doodles for having no screening process in place to prevent this.

 

I'm glad we only had Rupert, Mikey and Leon to balls us up - At least they were honest idiots ! ;)

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Torrent Of Abuse

Torrent Of Abuse

Posted
Posted
Boooooooo

 

http://www.7days.ae/storydetails.php?id=90797&title=Al%20Fahim’s%20red%20card%20dropped

 

Well, not quite, like all good PCFC Court storries he is getting 28 days grace

 

And of course it's a mistake and he will clear his good name - just you see. Next step, I guess will be to claim victimization. Sounds distinctly Portsmouthy. Birds of a feather and all that.

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Danny

Danny

Posted
Posted

 

I love this comment on that story:

 

HarryBankrupter wrote:

Wow - usual fantasy league standard journalism. Why the mention of only finding the cash or going into oblivion. What about some praise that so far and despite 18 months of no money after the chairman pulled the plug the day after signing crouch the club haven't taken the oh so easy route of administration like every other club that had difficulties? Administration was the easy answer - no more debt - cheap price for a new owner - no fire sale of decent players.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Portsmouth-ask-Premier-League-to-let-them-sell-Nadir-Belhadj-Kevin-Prince-Boateng-and-Mark-Wilson-NOW-to-pay-bills-Exclusive-article325979.html?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:dee781c3-f18c-4831-93e6-1cd0a4b4f8eb
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Chin Strain

Chin Strain

Posted
Posted

 

Laughable. Administration is 'oh so easy'. I don't think so. Find a buyer in a set time or assets are stripped and club liquidated. I guess they may just even have had a chance of survival had they reigned in the spending then, and actually tried to dig themselves out of the pooh, but not now.

 

The arrogance of now asking to sell players when they should have flogged them all in January is unbelievable. So, now relegation is all but nailed on, and they're into the quarters of the cup, lets see if we can bend the rules and sell players outside of the window. ****s.

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sidthesquid

sidthesquid

Posted
Posted

 

Knowing how Poopey operate, they probably genuinely expect to be able to sell the player, get the new buyer to pay up front, then cover the wage bill while he is loaned back to them for free for the rest of the season because he can't play for his new team

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pedg

pedg

Posted
Posted (edited)

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/john-cross/The-John-Cross-Column-Why-Harry-Redknapp-is-not-to-blame-for-Portsmouth-s-plight-and-the-Premier-League-must-not-bend-the-rules-to-save-them-article326269.html

 

See its not Arry's fault pompey are in the poo its down to story being unaware of the 'just say no' option.

 

(and for a bonus contains a comment from HarryBankrupter who obviously is not happy with Arry!)

Edited by pedg
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Gorgiesaint

Gorgiesaint

Posted
Posted

 

Let's hope the PL stay strong over this, would be a disgrace if Pompey have the rules changed to suit them. They had all of January to sell players and they made no effort - and since then they've brought in more!!

 

Interesting stuff in that article PES.

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pedg

pedg

Posted
Posted
Let's hope the PL stay strong over this, would be a disgrace if Pompey have the rules changed to suit them. They had all of January to sell players and they made no effort - and since then they've brought in more!!

 

I think you will find the PL are about as strong as a homoeopathically diluted cup of already weak tea.

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rallyboy

rallyboy

Posted
Posted

They chose not to sell or to address debt last month, opting instead to cheat as many points and cup victories as possible with their illegally-assembled squad.

It was a poor business decision, it looks to have predictably backfired.

Cheats - no sympathy from me, nor from their fellow strugglers who they outbid or who have had to sell to balance books.

 

 

And on the mob rumours - they have been swimming with sharks for a while, they got bitten, once again it was predictable.

 

A pattern of poor/criminal decision-making is forming....and it continues with the call to eyeball the judge, take on extra wages, and test the patience of the taxman.

 

It's a suicidal strategy - the club should book a flight to Zurich, or invite a local BBC reporter round and tell him they feel a bit down.

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OldNick

OldNick

Posted
Posted
They chose not to sell or to address debt last month, opting instead to cheat as many points and cup victories as possible with their illegally-assembled squad.

It was a poor business decision, it looks to have predictably backfired.

Cheats - no sympathy from me, nor from their fellow strugglers who they outbid or who have had to sell to balance books.

 

 

And on the mob rumours - they have been swimming with sharks for a while, they got bitten, once again it was predictable.

 

A pattern of poor/criminal decision-making is forming....and it continues with the call to eyeball the judge, take on extra wages, and test the patience of the taxman.

 

It's a suicidal strategy - the club should book a flight to Zurich, or invite a local BBC reporter round and tell him they feel a bit down.

 

What people do not seem to be factoring in, is the DESPERATION of the PL to save their face.

Push comes to shove they will bend the rules to keep the league with it's 20 teams in tact.

To me if they help Pompey and give them a -9 point penalty that is the best i can expect at this moment in time.

I dont know how FIFA will react and am surprised at their reticence to act.

I can't see Pomey being qble to claw much money in for players anyway, the bids they would attract would be rock bottom and as Chanrai is said to have got them as a guarentee of his money, he may have a say in it.

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