forlanssister 3,050 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Not the clearest of pics.... Doesn't involve the club as such. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 As much of an issue to us as Dave King's. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,050 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 From behind the paywall. Criminal investigations have been launched into tax schemes sold by a key shareholder in Rangers Football Club, The Times has learnt. Richard Hughes, the co-founder of Zeus Capital, the finance company at the centre of the Rangers takeover, also set up Zeus Partners, which created and marketed a £134 million film investment scheme that HM Revenue & Customs suspects may be part of an illegal effort to generate millions of pounds in tax relief. The Revenue is understood to be investigating 17 companies set up by Zeus Partners. Criminal investigations by HMRC are reserved for the most serious cases of suspected illegality including those where “only a criminal sanction is appropriate”. Mr Hughes, who has more than two million shares in Rangers, a stake of 6.8 per cent, played a pivotal role in the purchase of the Glasgow club after it went into administration in February. The collapse came after Rangers’ previous owners became embroiled in disputes with the Revenue. The club has been beset by tax problems that led to the new Rangers, who play at Ibrox Stadium, being forced to start from the fourth tier of Scottish football this season. The Revenue claims to be owed an estimated £73 million in tax and penalties after the club used a tax avoidance scheme to pay its players for nearly a decade. Rangers went into administration over a separate tax problem, when Craig Whyte, who bought it last year, failed to pay an £18 million PAYE bill. When Zeus Capital and the businessman Charles Green bought the club for £5.5 million in June, they presented their consortium of investors as a “new beginning”. But a year before the acquisition, Revenue officials raided premises associated with Zeus Partners, two sources told The Times, as well as offices of Seven Arts Entertainment, the US film company that was counterparty to the deal. Neither Zeus Partners nor HMRC commented on the alleged raid. “They showed up, knocked on the door, and said, ‘We want to come and look at the records’,” one person said of the Seven Arts raid. “They took everything under the sun.” Mr Hughes, who has one of the biggest shareholdings in Rangers, founded Zeus Partners as an offshoot of Zeus Capital, in 2006. It was set up so wealthy individuals could access “returns that Zeus Capital has been achieving for its corporate clients”. Two other partners run the day-to-day business, although one said that Mr Hughes retained an “active role”. Mr Hughes stands to make millions of pounds when Rangers floats on the stockmarket before Christmas. Three other Zeus Capital executives, who do not work at Zeus Partners, own stakes in the club, making the finance house collectively its largest owner. There is no evidence that Zeus Capital marketed schemes similar to those offered by Zeus Partners. The Revenue is not investigating Zeus Capital, the company involved in the Rangers takeover. Zeus Partners’ controversial film deal attracted about 165 high-net worth individuals including Hugh Sloane, the hedge-fund mogul and Tory donor, and Laurie McIlwee, chief finance officer of Tesco. Individual investors are not being investigated by HMRC, however. Each investor was offered a “high-risk film production” deal to buy a total of eight new films and some library content from Seven Arts. The deal was structured so that, in the event that the films were “blockbusters”, the investors would double their money. If they did badly, the investment would be largely wiped out and the cost could be written off against the investors’ other income. Films purchased from Seven Arts included Knife Edge, a 2009 British thriller starring Hugh Bonneville and Tamsin Egerton, The Winter Queen, starring Milla Jovovich, and Autopsy, a horror film directed by Adam Gierasch. None appears to have achieved anywhere close to the “blockbuster” level that would have generated profit. American Summer made only $2,269, according to Box Office Mojo. Deal, a 2008 film starring Burt Reynolds, is said to have made $61,625. A year after signing the deal in May 2008, Zeus Partners declared that each of the 17 companies was worthless, their accounts show, enabling investors to claim tax relief. At the time, however, a number of films had yet to be released. One, The Winter Queen, had not been made. “One of the key questions is how would the investors have known the stock was worthless as early as 2009, when some of the titles had yet to be released,” a person close to Seven Arts said. Up to 84 per cent of an investor’s contribution was financed by a loan from Seven Arts. The loan was secured against the companies, so investors were not personally liable if films failed. An investor who put in £160,000 could borrow about £840,000 and claim tax relief on the full £1 million without being liable to pay back the loan. For a high-net-worth investor the tax relief would be between £400,000 and £500,000. Rebus Investment Solutions, a company representing several disgruntled Zeus investors, said their clients had been advised that the film deal was a “win-win scenario”. “The deal was based on the notion that, if the films were successful, investors would see huge returns and, if they were unsuccessful, they would be able to claim tax relief on the losses,” a spokesman said. “Such a bullish view failed to take into account the significant risks, including potential challenges by HMRC.” A Rangers spokesman said yesterday that Mr Hughes was “one of a number of minority investors” and had “no involvement in the management of the club”, and that Rangers had “no business relationship with Zeus Capital”. However, in June, Zeus Capital said that it “worked in conjunction with Charles Green to complete the £5.5 million acquisition of Rangers”. In the same month, Zeus Capital was described by Malcolm Murray, the new chairman, as “the primary advisers” on the Rangers deal. Mr Hughes is understood to believe that the focus of the criminal investigation is on Seven Arts, not Zeus Partners. He denied that the film investments could be illegal or amounted to tax avoidance. The investments had been approved by qualified accountants before being marketed. He also said that he had not been contacted by HMRC in relation to the film investigation since it began about 18 months ago. A spokesman for Zeus Partners said: “Zeus Partners provided a number of high-risk investment opportunities, backing highly successful entrepreneurs with a proven track record across a number of sectors. Individual investors had the option of claiming HMRC statutory relief in the event that the investments were unsuccessful. We are aware that there is an HMRC investigation into these and other investments under way at this time and Zeus Partners is providing its full co-operation to HMRC.” Seven Arts strongly denied claims that it, rather than Zeus, was the focus of the Revenue investigation. Peter Hoffman, chief executive of Seven Arts, said: “There was nothing fraudulent about the transaction, it was perfectly valid. These were real movies we were intending to make money on.” Mr Sloane said he had not claimed for tax relief on the Seven Arts investment. Mr McIlwee and the Revenue both declined to comment. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,258 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 total non-story. when are the mhedia going to investigate dermot 'serial tax avoider in ROI' Desmond and his dodgy OAP care homes ? or the dodgy deal for ID cards proposed during the last Labour UK government (while 'Dr' john Reid was a government minister) where one of dermot desmond's companies would have got the contract to manufacture these ID cards? contract worth billions BTW. Surely even Mark Daly might want to look into this ? yet again maybe not. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frost 0 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Another for the mix ? @rangerstaxcase RTC Exclusive: Charles Green is the subject a new tax inquiry- separate from the Zeus investigation. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 I thought RTC was meant to be 'retiring' weeks ago. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,246 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Unless I am mistaken, Rangers does not have a "key" shareholder any longer ... (BTW, there is a clear drive to thwart our share issue.) 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 kind of people that would get on well with whyte. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,246 Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Richard Hughes, the co-founder of Zeus Capital, the finance company at the centre of the Rangers takeover, also set up Zeus Partners, which created and marketed a £134 million film investment scheme that HM Revenue & Customs suspects may be part of an illegal effort to generate millions of pounds in tax relief. Could this be the same sort of "film investment scheme" that TLB and Co. have heavily invested in too? Rangers went into administration over a separate tax problem, when Craig Whyte, who bought it last year, failed to pay an £18 million PAYE bill. Actually, I am surprised to read this. Mr Hughes, who has more than two million shares in Rangers, a stake of 6.8 per cent, played a pivotal role in the purchase of the Glasgow club after it went into administration in February. The collapse came after Rangers’ previous owners became embroiled in disputes with the Revenue. The club has been beset by tax problems that led to the new Rangers, who play at Ibrox Stadium, being forced to start from the fourth tier of Scottish football this season. New Rangers play at Ibrox Stadium, you know?! A Rangers spokesman said yesterday that Mr Hughes was “one of a number of minority investors” and had “no involvement in the management of the club”, and that Rangers had “no business relationship with Zeus Capital”. So ... we have no business relation to ZC, Hughes is "only" a minor shareholder ... and yet they whip up this article about a "key shareholder"? What does the Hooped Horror Investigator make of it? " The Times makes it clear that Zeus Capital itself is not under investigation. However, and perhaps of more relevant concern to prospective investors, is the statement by the paper that Mr Hughes “stands to make millions from the share floatation” due by the end of the year. It is hard to see how he does so with all of the investment raised in the share issue staying in the club, as promised by Mr Green. A Rangers spokesman is quoted as saying that Rangers “have no business relationship with Zeus Capital”. However Imran Ahmad was a Director of Zeus Capital and is attributed by Mr Green with introducing him to the deal, and Brian Stockbridge, the Finance Director, is a Director too of Zeus Capital. " That is ... Imran Ahmad was a director of a company not under investigation. Brian Stockbridge is a director of a company not under investigation. Well, well ... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I get the feeling 'locusts' are all around RFC 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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