Former Everton defender Craig Short is one of the group calling themselves V11 who have seen their Premier League earnings lost in fraudulent investment scams.
Kingsbridge Asset Management is the common link between over 200 Premier League players and their money. They provided a service that players and managers were happy to sign up to. They offered lucrative investments for the vast amounts of money that were being earned in the Premier League.
One of the major financial temptations was the government-initiated tax breaks for investment in making films in the UK. The huge paybacks given to Kingsbridge by the government in the form of 40% tax rebates were reinvested in property schemes, many of which failed, leaving the players and managers who had provided the original investment seed money to Kingsbridge.
And then came the financial crisis of 2008 and the property markets suffered massively.
“What the government didn’t envisage was the tax advantages would be abused and turned into a financial product,” said investment fraud lawyer Ben Rees.
Short was advised to invest in another development – in Florida, called Charlotte Harbor.
“The first [property] had no value whatsoever,” he said.
“I had a huge mortgage on it which I just couldn’t afford. The easiest thing for me to do was walk away, give the keys back.”
When HMRC eventually chased the tax owed from the film schemes, many of the investments had diminished, leaving players unable to cover the tax bills.
Rees was introduced to the V11 group through a charity.
“I think every professional adviser makes mistakes, but the volume of and the consistency of these complex, high-risk, unregulated investments were just totally unsuitable for young, naive, kind of financially inexperienced footballers,” said Rees.
“Then when you start seeing the investments where the advisory firm themselves have got an interest in the projects or they’re involved somehow, that’s not a mistake.”
Dave McKee and Kevin McMenamin, the financial advisers who ran Kingsbridge, said in their statement to the BBC: “Film schemes attracted huge support from all areas of the financial services industry.
“Any losses suffered by clients… are deeply regrettable but were as a consequence of changes in HMRC policy and the worldwide property market collapse in 2008.
“Kingsbridge had well over 2,000 clients, many of whom received very similar advice. The huge majority of these clients remain satisfied with the way that Kingsbridge handled their affairs.”
Craig Short’s partner, Carly, a trained lawyer by profession, saw a pattern among other professionals in football who had seen their investments go south, and she put together the V11 group — 11 Victors, who could pursue justice for the group, starting back in 2016.
Forgeries, hidden interest, alleged criminality has been investigated by the City fo London Police, at the request Everton fan Andy Burnham, but the case dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence.
Watch Football’s Financial Shame: The Story of the V11 on BBC iPlayer