Alisher Usmanov is expecting to be repaid debts he says have been incurred by Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri when the sale of the club to 777 Partners goes through, it has been revealed in The Guardian.
The quotes attributed to a spokesman of the Russian oligarch are in an article in which Simon Goodley claims that Moshiri received as much as £415m in loans and apparent gifts from Usmanov’s companies before sanctions were imposed on him and his business interests following the invasion of Ukraine last year due to his long-time ties to Vladimir Putin.
Goodley claims that the extent of Usmanov’s financial links to Moshiri and loans made to the British-Iranian businessman that are revealed in documents seen by the newspaper also raise further questions about Moshiri’s true wealth which has been estimated at £1.6bn.
Moshiri has always maintained that he has invested his own money into Everton and that he has not misrepresented his status or relationship with Usmanov but the documents alluded to by Goodley suggest that between 2020 and 2022, the Blues’ owner loaned around £145m from Windfel Properties, a company owned by the Uzbek-born tycoon.
Furthermore, the documents cast doubt on whether Moshiri truly owned the shares in USM Holdings that allowed him to sell £270m worth of holdings in the firm.
A lawyer for Moshiri said: “As the owner of Everton FC, Farhad Moshiri has always acted in the best interests of the club and its supporters. He is not controlled by or acting on behalf of Alisher Usmanov (or anyone else). These false claims have been disproved by independent investigations.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Usmanov said that the oligarch would be seeking reimbursement for debts owed to him:
“Mr Moshiri and his companies are indeed indebted to Mr Usmanov and entities affiliated with him. We hope that the debt will be repaid after Mr Moshiri closes the sale of the Everton club, which is now being actively announced in the press.”
As Goodley points out, it is not clear how those debts could be repaid in the short term given that no UK citizen can transfer money to individuals currently sanctioned by the Government.