Prospective Everton owner 777 Partners is being accused of fraud by a pair of London-based asset management companies.
Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP and Leadenhall Life Insurance Linked Investments Fund PLC are seeking damages after they claim Josh Wander — the co-founder of 777 — and a series of linked companies including 777, used $350million of assets that either were not controlled or owned by them or “did not exist” as collateral.
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The complaint was filed on Friday in a district court in New York.
The complaint says: “To induce Leadenhall to fund their operation, Wander, along with his group of alter ego entities, ‘pledged’ over $350million in assets as collateral to Leadenhall, knowing all along that the assets either did not exist, were not actually owned by Wander’s entities, or had already been pledged to another lender.”
777 and Wander declined to comment when approached by The Athletic.
The complaint, which follows previous allegations of wrongdoing, was filed at the end of another turbulent week for 777, whose Australian airline Bonza entered voluntary redundancy on Tuesday.
This latest legal issue follows several lawsuits made against 777 over disputed loans and claimed payments over recent months as well as A-Cap, a New York-based financial services and insurance company who has backed 777 with hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years, exiting its relationship with their reinsurance subsidiary, 777 Re, earlier this year.
777 have previously said it does not discuss ongoing litigation and has declined to comment on the downgrades to its reinsurance business or A-Cap.
The Miami-based firm agreed to buy current owner Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1 per cent stake in the club in September in a deal that is subject to regulatory approval from the Premier League, the Football Association and the Financial Conduct Authority.
777 also own stakes in Serie A side Genoa, Belgian club Standard Liege, Vasco da Gama in Brazil, Hertha Berlin in Germany, French side Red Star and La Liga club Sevilla as well as the London Lions basketball team.
Everton secured their Premier League safety last month and currently sit 15th, 11 points above the relegation zone.
An appeal against a two-point deduction for profitability and sustainability rule (PSR) breaches is set to be heard later this month.
GO DEEPER
777's latest legal scrape must surely mark the end of its attempt to buy Everton
(Photo: VIRGINIE LEFOUR/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)