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Josh 10:59 Wed Apr 26
West Ham's London Stadium - raided

BREAKING: Newcastle's St James' Park and West Ham's London Stadium have been raided as part of a police investigation.



Offices at Newcastle and West Ham have been raided as part of an investigation into suspected tax and National Insurance fraud, Sky sources understand.

Nearly 200 officers of HM Revenue and Customs were also deployed in the raids, which included the training ground and main offices of Newcastle United at St James' Park and the London Stadium, home of West Ham.

A number of arrests were made, and Sky Sports News HQ understands that one of those was Newcastle's managing director Lee Charnley.

A statement from HMRC read: "HMRC has arrested several men working within the professional football industry for a suspected Income Tax and National Insurance fraud.

"180 HMRC officers have been deployed across the UK and France today. Investigators have searched a number of premises in the north east and south east of England and arrested the men and also seized business records, financial records, computers and mobile phones.

"The French authorities are assisting the UK investigation, have made arrests and several locations have been searched in France.

"This criminal investigation sends a clear message that, whoever you are, if you commit tax fraud you can expect to face the consequences. As this is an ongoing investigation HMRC is unable to provide any further detail at this time."

Kaiser Zoso 4:46 Sun Apr 30
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

http://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2017/april/30-april/club-response-newspaper-report

Northern Sold 1:31 Sun Apr 30
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4458942/West-Ham-s-1m-Payet-loyalty-bonus-HMRC-raids.html

Mart O 11:15 Fri Apr 28
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Good article by David Conn here:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/28/newcastle-tax-investigation-moussa-sissoko

Seems safe to say HMRC have not covered themselves in glory here. Looks like total overkill. Cunts.

Billy Blagg 2:36 Fri Apr 28
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Arthur's Mother in Law formed part of the transfer deal? She a Right-back?

Any Old Iron 10:33 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Stab-proof vests and a fucking helicopter for 40 blokes looking through the ledgers of a football club.
Sounds like these accountants think they're with the FEDS

Has the Brady Bitch had her collar felt yet?

Mart O 6:30 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

The Marveaux transfer was one that was always incomprehensible to me. Here was a bloke who was bang average at a bang average club and had been injured for months before signing for NUFC. Inexplicable in football terms...

goose 6:27 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Sorry my fuck up, I meant we didn't get £5m from Newcastle. He went there for free no?

Kaiser Zoso 6:24 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

40 HMRC officials, stab proof vests and a helicopter

Ha ha ha

Just to check up on Demba Ba?

Must have cost them half a million, chasing five?

1964 6:15 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Some new bits in there like Simon Stainrod and the bit about agents being the focus of the investigation.

But mostly just a regurgitation of yesterdays stuff which newspapers love to do till they run out of anything new to say.

No word from the club though?

Dolittle 6:07 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

if it turns out he illegally played for Chelsea

will the Scousers ask for the 2014 Premiership trophy?

Stranded 6:04 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Some details in here I hadn't been elsewhere, apologies if already done.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-4451140/Ex-Newcastle-winger-Sylvain-Marveaux-arrested-France.html

Former Newcastle United midfielder Sylvain Marveaux was among four suspects arrested in France over the football tax scandal engulfing British clubs, it was reported on Thursday.

Sources close to the investigation, which also involves West Ham United and Chelsea, said the 31-year-old was currently in custody and 'answering questions'.

Marveaux signed a five-year deal with Newcastle in June 2011 and was finally released in May 2016.

During this period Marveaux was loaned to French side Guingamp, and is currently with Ligue 1 side Lorient.

In its coverage of those arrested in France, Thursday's Le Parisien newspaper writes: 'According to our information, they are three players' agents, as well as Lorient's attacking midfielder Sylvain Marveaux, the former Newcastle player'.

The role of agents is the main focus of the investigation, according to sources on both side of the Channel.

Some 180 officers were involved in raids in the UK and France, with Newcastle and West Ham both targeted on Wednesday morning as tax officials took steps to investigate a suspected £5million fraud across the football industry.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers also visited Chelsea's Stamford Bridge offices — as MailOnline revealed on Wednesday — to request information in connection with the raids.

HMRC revealed it had 'arrested several men working within the professional football industry for a suspected income tax and national insurance fraud.'

Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley, owner Mike Ashley's main man at the club, was arrested at his home at 6am and spent 10 hours with officers before being released without charge.

HMRC's statement continued: 'Investigators have searched a number of premises in the North-East and South-East of England and arrested men and also seized business records, financial records, computers and mobile phones.

'The French authorities are assisting the UK investigation, and have made arrests and several locations have been searched in France.'

Less than 48 hours after securing promotion back to the Premier League, Newcastle players were stunned by the sight of HMRC officers descending on their Darsley Park training ground.

A number of Newcastle deals involving French players are understood to have been facilitated by former QPR striker Simon Stainrod, 58.

Newcastle have previously confirmed Stainrod was 'involved with the club', having based himself in Dubai as a Scotland-registered agent. He was stripped of his official agent's licence by the FA in 2012 for failing to produce requested documents. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Stainrod.

The former striker for the likes of QPR, Sheffield United, Oldham and Aston Villa is an agent who is allegedly linked to four deals being investigated although there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on his part.

As a player his most successful spell came at QPR, where he scored 48 goals in 145 games from 1980 to 1985.

After a spell at Stoke in 1988 his career took him to France and then Scotland, where he finished up as player-manager at Ayr United.

WHO IS SIMON STAINROD?

In 2003, he set up his own company with friends called Matchday Media. He is now based in Dubai. Stainrod was linked to many of Newcastle's moves for French players such as Hatem Ben Arfa. At Moussa Sissoko's unveiling he purred about him as a 'Rolls-Royce sort of midfielder'.

West Ham insiders said around 40 tax officials visited their premises, with one source telling Sportsmail that computers belonging to academy staff had been seized.

The officers arrived at West Ham's London Stadium in unmarked white vans at around 8am, with a helicopter circling overhead.

Just after midday a small team of officers wearing 'HM Revenue and Customs' bibs could be seen carrying clipboards and plastic folders inside the stadium car park.

Marveaux only played 38 games for Newcastle in four years, and when signing for Lorient he described his time in North East England as 'a failure'.

Discussing Newcastle's former manager Alan Pardew, he said: 'I always tried to stay positive and make the maximum impact.

'At one time, my relationship with the coach was a little tough. So, I had to leave, that's why I asked to go out on loan, including Guingamp.'

A source at Lorient said Marveaux was currently out of the side, and suffering from a hamstring injury picked up two weeks ago during a game with Montpellier.

He said Marveaux was currently training by cycling indoors and was hoping to get back to full fitness. There was no comment on the legal allegations.

Beyond the four arrests in France, legal sources said there had been 'ten raids of various locations' over the past week.

Other clubs being investigated include Marseille, where a number of transfer deals have been investigated.

'The belief is that organised criminal gangs based in Corsica and mainland France were working with senior officials at the club, agents and other parties,' said one of the sources.

'Marseille has done a lot of high profile business with both West Ham and Newcastle in recent years, and accordingly both British clubs are being brought into this enquiry.'

Senior Marseille directors have been charged as part of the probe, which has seen some 800 bank accounts and 110 companies examined.

Among the deals being looked at was the transfer of French player Alou Diarra, then valued at around £4million, from Marseille to West Ham in August 2012 for an undisclosed fee.

Diarra spent a disastrous five months at the east London club, before accusing 'a well known' agent of effectively conning him into the transfer.

West Ham bought Dimitri Payet for £10.7m from Marseille in 2015 and sold him back to the French club for £25m this January.

Newcastle bought Florian Thauvin for a reported £15m in 2015 and loaned him back to Marseille for two seasons. He was due to be sold back this summer for £9.8m.

Newcastle also bought Remy Cabella from Marseille in 2014 for a reported £8m. He was also loaned back until the transfer was made permanent last August.

The French enquiry is being run by examining magistrate Guillaume Cotelle, who has been concentrating on the massively rich Marseille club's alleged links with the city's notorious underworld.

Marseille currently has the 20th highest wage bill in European football, paying its staff some £82m a year.

Among its famous fans are politician Emmanuel Macron, who is currently the red hot favourite to become President of France following a head-to-head election on May 7.

On Wednesday night a statement from the French authorities said: 'On April 26, 2017, a number of arrests and searches were carried out in France in connection with the execution by the national financial prosecutor (PNF) of a request on July 29, 2016, for mutual assistance from the British judicial authorities.

'Ten searches were carried out all over France and four people were held in custody. Documents were also seized.

'The investigation is being conducted by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). It deals with cases of aggravated tax evasion and the laundering of aggravated tax fraud committed during several transfers of football players between French clubs and clubs playing in the Premier League. The UK authorities suspect hidden payments to certain players, their agents or third parties, allowing them to evade income taxes and social security contributions.

'This judicial operation to combat tax fraud, carried out jointly by the French and British authorities and supervised by two PNF magistrates, took several months to prepare and mobilised 32 investigators.'

A West Ham spokesperson confirmed that the club were 'cooperating fully' with the investigation.

A Newcastle statement said: 'Newcastle United can confirm that a member of its staff has this morning been assisting HMRC with their enquiries.'

Chelsea's offices at Stamford Bridge were not raided and no allegations of wrongdoing have been made against the Premier League leaders but HMRC officers did make a request for information relating to their investigation into corruption in football.

A spokesman for Chelsea said: 'In connection with its wider investigation, HMRC has requested certain information which the club will provide.'

Gavros 5:36 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

would explain why Newcastle appear more under the kosh than us, and us more than Chelsea.

tnb 5:36 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Sorry, someone still had to pay me.

tnb 5:35 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Basically, if I want to sell you something for 80 quid but you say you'll only pay a fiver a month up to an eventual 80 quid and I agree, I'd be a damned mug if I didn't make sure there was some protection whereby someone still had to pay you something if I sold it on before getting close to giving you eighty quid.

If the release clause is true, Hoffenheim basically took a 6m gamble on us staying up. Which any of us could have told them was insane.

tnb 5:31 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Not from Hoffenheim no. Some reports say we got 5m from Newcastle. Again, it's another weirdness as I was also under the impression at the time that he left on a free. Newcastle seem to have paid 5m to someone though.

Either way, Hoffenheim had counted on getting around 16 x 500k. They ended up getting 4 x 500k and there was nothing they could do about it. The player and his agent meanwhile were free to make hay. And if we did make a 3m profit then there's that too. But either way, Hoffenheim got shafted.

Always seemed like a deal where an agent was more in control than the clubs involved. And I'm not just saying that now.

goose 5:18 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

did we get £5m from Hoffenheim though? i thought he left on a free because of the release clause?

tnb 5:13 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

The Ba deal always seemed weird to me. Not saying that means it's anything to do with this, or that anyone did anything wrong, but I could never get my head around it.

He was due to be sold from Hoffenheim to Stoke for a substantial fee (at the time), I think it was around 8m.

Instead, he failed the medical.

Following that, Hoffenheim realised they wouldn't get a similar offer from another club now his problems were known, and so they negotiated a deal with us.

That deal basically meant that they got a payment per month from us. I think it was around 500k, which effectively meant that if he stayed fit and we didn't cancel his contract they would eventually get the same fee Stoke had offered but in installments and therefore with an element of protection for us.

We were then able to sell him at the end of the season, and according to some we had also been allowed to include a relegation release clause - basically releasing us from any further obligations to pay Hoffenheim.

He leaves for Newcastle. We have paid about 4 installments to Hoffenheim at this point.

We pocket 5m.

His agent pockets two lots of sizeable commision within 6 months

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim have received about 2m for a player we have made 3m profit on and who was previously valued at about 8m, injuries notwithstanding.

At the very least, Hoffenheim must have felt thoroughly stitched up. Everyone had a field day apart from them. If that contract was watertight then they are mugs and whoever dealt with it on our end is a genius.

Mart O 4:44 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Haven't read all the posts since yesterday, when we were having a discussion about who had instigated this and who it was targeting.

Now seem clear it was HMRC leading the way with the French authorities assisting and that the targets are more likely agents and players than clubs.

Stranded 4:30 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Sven Roeder 11:37

It's impossible to enforce, due to the number of deals going on and the various long-standing ways of circumventing the rules. There are reams of rules and regulations and weighty potential legal punishments involved in the granting of contracts for major public building works, as an example, but they're not worth the paper they're printed on. People will always find a way to get an under the table payment through.

1964 1:22 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

Thought it was Demba Ba

Gavros 1:21 Thu Apr 27
Re: West Ham's London Stadium - raided

He had a very big forehead. Thats about all i remember about him.

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