Post by QPR Report on Oct 28, 2008 9:07:58 GMT
Boy brings back memories
Yorkshire Post - Owls takeover deal duo revealed
By Rob Waugh
THE identity of the two investors allegedly behind a proposal to take over Sheffield Wednesday are today revealed by the Yorkshire Post, along with concerns that the company being used to broker the deal has links to businessmen barred for illegal trading.
Although the bid is fronted by Geoff Sheard, the two men he has claimed are providing the finance are a German called Andreas Pilz and a UK businessman called Clive Smith, who also goes by the name 'Dern' Smith.
It can also be revealed that fans' group Wednesdayite, who hold a 10 per cent stake in the club, are on the verge of withdrawing their agreement to sell their shares, with lack of legitimate proof of funding the key reason.
Wednesdayite had agreed to sell their stake to Sheard in August but have grown increasingly frustrated with his inability to prove he has genuine backing.
Sheard initially used fake proof of funding from an offshore Caribbean bank for the deal drawn up by convicted money launderer, Richard Frank Downes.
Confronted with the involvement of Downes, Sheard insisted the money to buy a controlling interest in the Championship club was actually coming from Switzerland.
Last month, Mr Sheard provided a letter from a company called Dr Rebholz Consulting, based in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, as further proof of funding for a proposed multi-million pound deal. The letter suggested money to buy shares would be available from a Swiss equity firm by the end of October.
Investigations into Dr Rebholz Consulting, run by Andreas Pilz, have revealed that its sister company in the UK has a director and shareholders who operated illegal investment schemes in Germany and have subsequently been barred by the financial authorities.
Frank Suckfuell and Holger Boergmann, both German, are named as having a 25 per cent stake each in the Birmingham-based Dr Rebholz Wealth Management Ltd. Suckfuell is also named as a director.
They used a Birmingham-based company called Julius Stern Banking Corporation Ltd as part of an investment scheme in Germany which was blocked by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (FFSA) last year. The FFSA has confirmed that both men, who were operating without an approved licence, were then prohibited from further financial dealings in the country.
The same two men were involved with another investment scheme which operated in Switzerland through a company called Jacob Adelmann AG. Over 300 investors were promised quick, high percentage returns on their investments, but the scheme collapsed in 2006, with the Swiss Federal Banking Commission intervening to put the company into liquidation with debts in excess of E1m.
Checks on the background of Andreas Pilz, 48, also revealed that he was a former business associate of another German, Thomas Pilz, 43.
Thomas Pilz was jailed for four and a half years in the UK in 2002 for his part in the theft of $16m through a fraudulent high yield investment scheme.
It is not known whether the two men are related, but Swiss company records show Andreas Pilz as a former partner in Thomas Pilz and Associates, which went into liquidation in 2001.
There is no evidence Andreas Pilz, one of three partners in the firm along with Thomas Pilz, had any involvement in the investment scam which was uncovered by the Serious Fraud Office.
The latest question marks against Sheard's approach to Sheffield Wednesday follow the revelation that his initial proof of funding provided to the club and its major shareholders at the start of the year was produced by Richard Frank Downes, sentenced to 33 months in prison in the US in 2002 for conspiring to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars through an offshore Caribbean bank.
Sheard said he knew nothing about Downes's conviction and went on to say that the January letter was simply a means of getting a "foot in the door" to begin negotiations.
Little is known about the background of Clive or 'Dern' Smith, but it is known he has spoken directly to the club and at least one of the main shareholders. However, when contacted by the Yorkshire Post he denied he was involved in the bid at all.
He did say the name Geoff Sheard "rang a bell somewhere", but he did not know why.
Smith also said: "I'm involved in many matters, but certainly not the football world."
He confirmed he knew Andreas Pilz and added: "I shall be speaking to Mr Pilz to see if he knows this man (Sheard) or anything more about it."
Dr Rebholz Consulting has no formal contact number and it has not been possible to trace Pilz.
Mr Sheard, who has also been revealed to have a string of debts running into hundreds of thousands of pounds, refused to comment.
