Former Northampton Town owner embroiled in fraud allegations amid accusations with relation to a £10m loan.
Former Northampton Town owner David Cardoza has been charged with fraud in the long-running investigation into £10m of public money loaned to the club for a new stand that was never completed.
A decade after the money vanished, Cardoza, 54, is one of five men who have previously been connected to the Sixfields Stadium project who are scheduled to face in court on Thursday on multiple charges of fraud and money laundering.
In connection with Operation Tuckhill, Northamptonshire police’s investigation into what happened to the £10.75 million that the local council loaned the club to build a new stand and a hotel, this will be the first time someone has been hauled before the court directly.
In 2013–14, Northampton Borough Council made the loan. In January 2015, 1st Land, the company hired to manage the project, was put into administration.
Additionally charged with conspiracy to commit fraud between September 2013 and April 2015 are Cardoza’s father, former director Anthony Cardoza, 80; Howard Grossman, a 63-year-old property developer from north London and former director of 1st Land; his son, Marcus Grossman, 37; and Simon Patnick, 54.
They are accused of misleading the Northampton Borough Council by claiming that funds granted to the football team by the authority would only be utilised to build Sixfields Stadium and a hotel that would be adjacent.
The council formally complained that the promised improvement, the new East Stand, had not been finished and that the money they had loaned was missing, which prompted the raid.
After the club experienced financial troubles, Cardoza declared that he had sold it to businessman Kelvin Thomas, who currently serves as the club’s chair.