The former chairman of Northampton Town FC and four other men have been charged after a long-running police inquiry into an alleged fraud linked to a multi-million-pound stadium redevelopment loan.
Proceedings against former club chairman David Cardoza of Eastbourne, his father and three other men are due to be heard at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, Northamptonshire Police said.
The 54-year-old Cardoza; his father Anthony Cardoza, 80, of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire; Howard Grossman, a 63-year-old property developer from Bushey in Hertfordshire; his son, 37-year-old Marcus Grossman, of Barnet; and 54-year-old Simon Patnick, of Stanmore, north London, are all charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation between September 2013 and April 2015.
A decade-long inquiry has been carried out into alleged fraud related to a £10 million loan to redevelop Sixfields (Zac Goodwin/PA)
Police said the charges relate to allegedly false representations made to Northampton Borough Council that money loaned by the authority to the football club would be used solely for developing Sixfields Stadium and an adjoining hotel.
The Cardozas are also both charged with fraud by abuse of position, contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act, which relates to a sum of £8.75 million being paid from the football club to 1st Land Limited, a company owned by Howard Grossman.
A statement released by Northamptonshire Police said: “David Cardoza is further charged with transferring criminal property, namely £166,000 in a credit balance via a bank transfer from the bank account of Northampton Town Football Club Limited, knowing or suspecting it to constitute or to represent, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the benefit from criminal conduct.
“In addition to fraud, Howard Grossman faces three charges of transferring criminal property, specifically amounts of £650,000 from the bank account of his company County Homes (Herts) Ltd to his son and fellow director, Hayden Grossman, as well as transferring £10,000 from 1st Land Limited to Simon Patnick and £15,000 from 1st Land Limited to Simpa Investments Limited, a company owned by Simon Patnick.
“Mr Grossman and his son Marcus are further charged with transferring criminal property, namely £20,000, from Marcus Grossman’s account to Simon Patnick, knowing or suspecting it to constitute or to represent, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the benefit from criminal conduct.”
As well as fraud, Patnick is accused of acquiring criminal property contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, namely £61,800 in credit balances via bank transfers from or on behalf of Howard Grossman and Marcus Grossman knowing or suspecting it to constitute or to represent the benefit from criminal conduct.
Howard Grossman faces the same allegation, relating to a sum of £10,000 transferred to Margro Properties Ltd, a company run by Marcus Grossman.
Thursday’s hearing will be the first time that anyone has been brought before the court directly in relation to Operation Tuckhill, a police investigation into the alleged disappearance, discovered in late 2015, of £10.75 million loaned to the club in order to develop a new stand and a hotel.
The alleged theft from Northampton Borough Council is one element of a wider investigation which has seen almost 1,000 witness statements taken since initial police raids on the Sixfields Stadium in November 2015.