Police in the City of London have launched a criminal investigation into Kingsbridge Asset Management, an intermediary that offered investment advice to footballers and high net worth individuals between 1992 and 2010.
Staff at the company are alleged to have conspired together to defraud clients, which reportedly included dozens of international sports stars and professional footballers.
Three years ago, The Sunday Times reported that more than 100 football players had been advised by Kingsbridge Asset Management, and some faced financial ruin as a result of the company’s operations.
On Thursday (26 April 2018) the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad arrested a 60-year-old Blackburn man and two men aged 61 and 38 from Nottinghamshire on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, the statement confirmed.
In an interview, Michael Jarman, a professional football agent for Panthera Sports, said he was pleased to see arrests had been made, but urged authorities to act more quickly in future cases.
“There should have been arrests a lot quicker,” he said.
“I understand that there are a lot of complexities in the financial industry that the authorities have to deal with, but we are talking about large sums of money.
“Players typically don’t come from affluent families and are raised in a bubble from the get go, so it’s often football players that get burnt. It’s critical that they look at the management team around them and get the right advice.”
On Friday (27 April), the City of London Police published a statement, encouraging former clients of Kingsbridge, or associated companies between 1992 and 2010, to come forward.
In the statement Detective Superintendent Perry Stokes, the senior investigating officer on the case, called on others with relevant information to come forward.
“We are encouraging anyone who believes they are a victim, or anyone who has information about Kingsbridge Asset Management or companies associated with it, to come forward.
“We are aware that there may be many people, impacted by the activities of this company and it is vital that those affected come forward so their voices are heard and we are able to support them and provide the advice that they may need.”
In 2016, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme announced that customers who had taken advice from Kingsbridge could be eligible to claim back money lost as a result of their dealings with the business, up to the standard FSCS limits
A spokesperson for the Professional Footballers’ Association was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.
