Politicians, campaigners and former soccer players have protested the financial grooming of Premier League stars who claim they were persuaded to put their money into failed investment schemes that led to them being accused of tax avoidance and faced with enormous penalties from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The launch of the Investment Fraud Committee on Monday night, an all-party parliamentary group, featured harrowing testimony from several victims over the course of three hours and opened with a heavy focus on issues that are understood to have affected hundreds of former soccer players.
Many former players whose careers peaked in the 1990s have become unwell and struggled with their mental health because of their financial problems, sources said.
Photo: AFP
Former Manchester United and England striker Andy Cole, former Leeds United striker Brian Deane, former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder Michael Thomas, and former Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy were among those who attended the meeting.
Murphy, who has become a leading pundit for the BBC and TalkSport since his retirement, was hit with a ￡2.5 million (US$3.34 million) tax bill after investing in a film scheme that promised tax breaks to investors. The former England international lost a court case in 2019 more than ￡1 million he borrowed from the private bank Coutts to invest in the scheme.
The campaigners said it was wrong that soccer players who invested in failed film schemes later received huge tax bills, penalties and demands for interest payments from HMRC.
“I couldn’t think of a more brilliant place than a football club to find victims,” Murphy said.
Young professionals often turned to older teammates and managers for advice on how to manage their money and were then introduced to financial advisers who quickly sought to gain their trust, he said, adding that it was grooming.
Murphy, who said there was no intention to avoid tax, talked about how people would insert themselves in players’ lives before getting them to agree to investments later down the line.
“Our option [for investment] was these people,” he said. “It’s not footballers, it’s young men being manipulated. People can’t understand why you got into this position. It makes you feel silly — it adds to the shame. People have been through hell and back. Some are still there.”
Murphy talked about former players experiencing depression, anxiety, financial ruin and family breakups, adding that the HMRC does not have the desire or competence to target the perpetrators of investment fraud.
Some people had been pushed to the brink of suicide, Deane said.
“I watched it break friends’ marriages,” he said. “It affects your health and well-being.”
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