Wednesday 9th March 2011
An England and Aston Villa footballer has become embroiled in a row with his former agent, claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds have gone missing from one of his bank accounts.
Midfielder Stewart Downing, 26, appeared at York Crown Court on Monday accusing his former agent of fraud, having discovered just £11,000 in a bank account that he believed contained nearer to three quarters of a million pounds.The former Middlesbrough and Sunderland player told a jury how Ian Elliot, 53, used the cash to save his own failing businesses, ‘siphoning’ an account which should have contained between £600,000 and £700,000.According to the Mirror, Downing confirmed an account had in excess of £2 million going through it, although £136,000 had left the account to pay for a variety of luxury items.As well as the home cinema, he spent £30,000 on a home extension, £6,000 on a walk-in wardrobe and £45,000 on a conservatory. Other expenditure included £6,000 on a bathroom. He also gave his family £180,000 over a number of years, the jury was told.According to the Mirror, Downing told the court: "I discovered a lot of money missing...I relied on him to do most things on the business side.” He told the court he never read his contracts while Elliott was in charge of his affairs.The BBC reported back in September 2008 that Mr Elliot was being questioned by police after alarm bells started ringing and Downing grew concerned at how his ‘company affairs’ were being handled.It is also alleged Elliott acted as the agent for Middlesbrough while also acting for Downing during contract negotiations, something described in court as a "conflict of interest" and against Football Association rules.Downing denied the claim that he was trying to increase his wages at Middlesbrough to £80,000 a week during contract negotiations in 2008.He said the figure of £80,000 was "comical" and he would never try to get that much money from Middlesbrough.Mr Patton said: "You expressed the view you were the best player at the club and thought you were entitled to parity with the highest-paid player, who was in fact paid £80,000 a week."Downing said Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson would never pay that kind of money. He said: "Even when I went to Aston Villa I never ever demanded £80,000 a week.”He told the jury he thought he was one of the best players at the club and his new contract should reflect that.The Northern Echo reported that Robin Patton, defending, accounted for some of the missing money by detailing a number of items bought using the account in question. Mr Elliot is said to have helped Downing buy a string of high-performance cars, including Aston Martins, Bentleys and Ferraris, and arranged improvements to his property. Other items include exotic holidays for his parents, a £43,000 conservatory and a BMW X5 for his sister.The Northern Echo reports that the pair’s relationship ended on bad terms in 2008, when Mr Elliott was interviewed by former referee Jeff Winter on a North-East radio station. During the interview, Mr Elliott said Downing had expressed a desire to leave Middlesbrough, a claim Downing denies.Downing, who signed for Aston Villa for £10 million in 2009, has earned 25 caps for England since making his debut in 2005.Mr Elliott, from Whickham, Tyne and Wear, denies all the charges.Manchester debt firm is liquidated owing creditors over £2.2m
Wednesday 11th August 2010
Bankrupt football legend probed by police over loan fraud
Monday 2nd August 2010
Mortgage broker ordered to repay £1.5m of client money used to pay off debts
Wednesday 14th July 2010
Barclays lifts lid on banking write-offs
Wednesday 20th February 2008
Send To Friend Print
RSS Feed News Archive If you have any queries about this news story or our news section, please contact us
Posted in: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment