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The director of a company accused of embezzling millions of pounds of public money for the redevelopment of Sixfields Stadium in the city of Northampton has been banned from participating in the management of any business for 10 years.
The money had been paid to the club in 2013 and 2014 in the form of a loan by the local authority, the Borough Council of Northampton. Howard Grossman, 57, sole director of 1st Land Ltd, who had been retained by Northampton owner David Cardoza at the time, to oversee a £ 10.25 million development at Sixfields, paid 5, £ 6m to "various parties", £ 1.5m to himself and his family, said the insolvency service.
Grossman admitted that his company had made this payment, as well as loans of £ 2.65m to an unidentified "third party", after 1st Land received at least £ 6m from the company. club money from the club to finance stadium development. Grossman, accepting the ten-year ban on acting as a director or in the management of corporations, also admitted to having failed to keep proper accounting records or hand them over to the directors of the corporation so that the precise nature of the payments could not be definitively established.
Sue MacLeod, the Chief Investigator of the Insolvency Department, said:
"We managed to get a substantial ban on Howard Grossman and if he violates his exclusion, he risks being sent to jail.
"Howard Grossman, like all directors, had specific responsibilities as a corporate director, but he ignored them outright. The company's record-keeping shortcomings mean that we are unable to determine the exact nature of the payments corresponding to millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, which, along with the supporters of the football club, are the real victims here. "
1st Land was commissioned in January 2015 by the Buckingham construction company. He had originally been contracted for a reorganization of the booth is 8 million pounds, then had significantly reduced his plans, but had finally destroyed tools with 1.9 million pounds unpaid by 1st Land.
According to the insolvency press release, Grossman acknowledged that 1st Land had paid £ 2.65 million to a third party in the form of loans, £ 600,652 to related companies and £ 1.5 million in dividends "to himself … and sometimes to his family, members in his name".
The police first executed a search warrant in the club in November 2015 after the council had publicly declared, and then filed a formal complaint, that the loan money was missing, but that the promised development, including the new booth of the East, had not been realized. The club itself experienced financial difficulties at that time and his bank account was frozen. Shortly after, Cardoza announced that he had sold the club to a businessman, Kelvin Thomas. He still owns the club, in partnership with David Bower.
Police in Northamptonshire is pursuing a "nationwide" investigation, the Insolvency Service said, "on the Northampton Borough Council's loan money, missing … to recover public funds ".
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