Baroness who transferred savings to Svengali lawyer could lose money after he declares bankruptcy dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SWINDON Town chairman Lee Power said he wanted to either sell the club or “fund it himself again”, a court heard. The second claim, made by his barrister at the High Court this afternoon, appeared to go against his position last month – when it was claimed the club was insolvent and the only option was to sell to US investors Able. Fans had hoped that today’s hearing before deputy High Court judge Nicholas Thompsell would result in more certainty over the ownership of the club. Rival offers have been made by US firm AC Sports Wiltshire LLC and Australian construction mogul Clem Morfuni’s company Axis.
The question at the heart of this case is pretty simple: who owns Swindon Town? Two years ago, football agent Michael Standing and Australian construction mogul Clem Morfuni each obtained court orders preventing Lee Power from selling shares in the club. Why? Because they claimed they owned a stake in the club. Morfuni said he’d paid £1.1m for a 15 per cent stake in Town in 2018. That matter was later settled – so he
does now own his 15 per cent stake. Mr Standing said he went in 50-50 with Lee Power, although his involvement was hidden at the time. Mr Power, by contrast, says that Mr Standing was acting on behalf of Premier League player Gareth Barry.
An aristocrat has won the first round of her High Court battle with a solicitor who she claims tricked her out of her £2m life savings - after telling the judge she has to beg, steal and borrow in order to be able to survive .
Baroness Jacqueline Van Zuylen says she was desperate and suffering sleepless nights about the whereabouts of her millions after handing them to solicitor Rodney Whiston-Dew to invest on her behalf in 2012.
Mr Whiston-Dew, 70, is currently in prison after after being jailed in 2017 for his role in a £65m tax scam, then subsequently stuck off.
Baroness van Zuylen is now suing him, demanding her money back, plus damages, while the disgraced lawyer denies any wrongdoing.
Swindon Town chairman Lee Power, photographed last year at the Exeter City match Picture: DAVE EVANS Lawyers for Mr Standing and 15 per cent shareholder Clem Morfuni sought to block Mr Power’s attempt to lift both orders. Mr Morfuni’s company, Axis Football Investment Ltd, is keen to buy the club. It has offered to invest £250,000 – although a letter to Mr Power’s representatives asking for more details of Able’s offer had gone unanswered. Judge Thompsell, the deputy High Court judge hearing the case on Monday, likened the situation to a car speeding headlong towards a wall with Mr Morfuni and Mr Standing trying to pull the steering wheel one way and Mr Power attempting to turn the car the other way.