Ron in court.

[bluesfansince1952]

If they have been charged the charges will be read out in Court this morning. As I noted in my previous post the involvement of the Serious Fraud Division make it unlikely that the matter will be dealt with today, and, I suspect no plea will be taken and an adjournment sought for the case to be transferred to a higher court at a later date.
It is anyone's guess what effect this will have on the future of the club, but, again as previously noted, it is hard to see this particular matter speedily resolved.
Hopefully the result of the Council vote yesterday will mean it is in everyone's interest that the development will be allowed to go ahead and the Club to continue operating.
There also other possible alternative scenarios some which might be quite messy and could involve litigation involving RH and other assets.
What is a place in the National League as well as the registrations of few broken down players worth?
Maybe the 'Ron out' brigade should think about making an offer.
It might be prudent for somewhat to dust off a 'Plan B'. In this situation things could move very quickly.
Forewarned is Forearmed?

 

[kentblues]

Can't comment in this case.
More generally the SFO has a conviction rate of just over 50% on cases that actually get as far as a verdict. Many fall to the wayside/fall apart/get settled before that. So the conviction rate verses cases they start must be dreadful.

The backlog in the court system runs into many months even for serious cases of violence and the wait grows longer and longer. Serious fraud cases can then run for many months.

So unless it is dismissed tomorrow due to some prior agreement this might be sat there for some considerable time. Bear in mind there are 100's of companies in the queue relating to abuse of the furlough scheme, bounce back loans etc etc. which make these numbers look like petty cash.

 

[CanveyCastle]

Innocent until PROVEN guilty.

 

[bluesfansince1952]

Innocent until PROVEN guilty.

Absolutely. Never in doubt
Also never in doubt is that there are consequences to appearing in court facing serious charges.
Whether all this will affect his ability or desire to continue funding the Club is something entirely unconnected to the eventual outcome of the case (which may not be resolved for another two or three years).

 

[Strykr]

 

[Barry.C]

Can't comment in this case.
More generally the SFO has a conviction rate of just over 50% on cases that actually get as far as a verdict. Many fall to the wayside/fall apart/get settled before that. So the conviction rate verses cases they start must be dreadful.

The backlog in the court system runs into many months even for serious cases of violence and the wait grows longer and longer. Serious fraud cases can then run for many months.

So unless it is dismissed tomorrow due to some prior agreement this might be sat there for some considerable time. Bear in mind there are 100's of companies in the queue relating to abuse of the furlough scheme, bounce back loans etc etc. which make these numbers look like petty cash.

Lisa Osofsky , American former FBI lawyer and hunter of the Mafia and financial fraudsters has been in post over 2 years and does not appear to live up to her tough reputation, Annual Conviction rates in 2016-17 were 87%, fell to 77% the following year and 53% in 2018-19

Apparently the annual 2019-2020 report did not specify figures for that year, instead relying on a 4 year success rate of 62% figure
According to the FT Advisor the omission was because the conviction rate appeared from the figures to be just 38%
Could play into Rons hands a bit given the length of time you refer too and on the face of it very poor current conviction rates

 

[kentblues]

Lisa Osofsky , American former FBI lawyer and hunter of the Mafia and financial fraudsters has been in post over 2 years and does not appear to live up to her tough reputation, Annual Conviction rates in 2016-17 were 87%, fell to 77% the following year and 53% in 2018-19

Apparently the annual 2019-2020 report did not specify figures for that year, instead relying on a 4 year success rate of 62% figure
According to the FT Advisor the omission was because the conviction rate appeared from the figures to be just 38%
Could play into Rons hands a bit given the length of time you refer too and on the face of it very poor current conviction rates

Indeed and conviction rate relates I think to cases that run their course..

 

[Rob1920]

I do have some vague recollection of something court-related rearing its head a few years back regarding a developement Ron was involved with in the Cheltenham area, My memory isn't the greatest but I'm sure it caused a panic back then on here, with everyone thinking it related to more HMRC stuff to do with the club until someone noticed it was unrelated to that. Maybe its that same thing finally coming to a head?

 

[undercovershrimper]

Not sure how long this has all been going on for but the two cases my firm has been involved in with the SFO have taken between 8-10 years to resolved so don't be expecting this to be over anytime soon, as today's hearing is at Westminster Mags it will only be a preliminary hearing probably for it to be referred to a Crown Court at a much later date, would love to know who is representing Ron, he should of come to us we are Tier 1 for Business Crime and Fraud!

 

[JAL]

It started at 10AM didn't it?

 

[Mad Cyril]

Not sure how long this has all been going on for but the two cases my firm has been involved in with the SFO have taken between 8-10 years to resolved so don't be expecting this to be over anytime soon

I hope this doesn't cast a cloud over future Champions League campaigns

 

[Jai]

It started at 10AM didn't it?

Would imagine like most courts it is 'not before 10am'. This effectively means that it could go before the court any time today. There will be a few cases listed for 10am in the same courtroom.

 

[bluesfansince1952]

It started at 10AM didn't it?

Yes, it would have started at 10 am but all of those listed need to appear. The exact time of their appearance will depend on their order on the list.

 

[bluesfansince1952]

Yes, it would have started at 10 am but all of those listed need to appear. The exact time of their appearance will depend on their order on the list.

I would guess they are in a plea court.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

well it seems that this relates to the Redrow Homes situation in Cheltenham and is to do with VAT.

a relief that the club is not directly involved but if found guilty then the impact on the club may be interesting I.e. fit and proper person test and what would happen if disqualified from being able to be a director of a UK company.

any legal eagles out there that could provide more insight of what at this stage is purely speculation.

Ron would still own the club even if he wasn’t allowed to be a director.

Im not aware of any powers the footballing authorities have to force a sale.

The impact on the club is however likely to be substantial. Firstly in terms of management time - this may be why Ron agreed to appoint Tom Lawrence knowing that soon he’d be occupied with his case , why Stan says Ron is always having meetings in London, why Ron missed the game due to a long-standing commitment and maybe even why we were relegated as Ron’s focus was elsewhere.
Secondly in terms of funding this is going to complicate matters considerably. Lenders are going to think twice, existing loans may become immediately repayable.

I wonder if this relates to the investigation when Ron was helping the police with their enquiries all these years ago or whether this is a much more recent matter? Was it over 7 years ago?

 

[Boreham Blue]

Next case scheduled for 11am so can’t anticipate it being a long session

 

[Barry.C]

Wonder if the National League have picked up on this and maybe would have been notified

Of course I wouldnt expect them to act in any way at this stage given Ron is innocent until proven otherwise

 

[Barry.C]

Interesting that the newspaper report shown earlier on this thread refers to over £5m NOT paid to HMRC in VAT on 2 land deals sold to REDROW , Housebuilder in the past 5 years, not earlier in Cheltenham

The first land sale is referenced as being in Essex in 2016 , and VAT owed of £950k, the latter just 2 year's ago in Cheltenham, where it is alleged £4.485m was not paid in VAT that should have been

 

[Ex-SouthendUnitedEmployee]

View attachment 17315
I know it looks like it's out of that **** rag, but just saw this posted on Twitter.

And to this day, we'll never know where the Freddy Eastwood money went....

 

[lombard]

The case relates to a £920,000 tax bill in 2016 and three years later an amount for £4.485 million, in relation to the Cheltenham project.So there you go Ron apologists.Not guilty until proven otherwise.