One Direction star Louis Tomlinson became the unwitting public face of a multi-million pound pension fraud scheme when he tried to help his hometown football club. The Doncaster-born pop superstar fell victim to a criminal gang who used his celebrity status to legitimise their elaborate scam involving Doncaster Rovers.
Kevin Phelan, Daniel Giles and Adrian Bashforth were convicted last month at Leeds Crown Court for pension fraud and face "significant" jail sentences. The criminals stole £3.7 million from the pension pots of more than 200 people, who received back just £1.3 million of their life savings.
The elaborate football scam
The gang used the proposed Doncaster Rovers takeover to cover their tracks and explain away the missing millions from retirement funds. Louis became involved in 2014 through John Ryan, the club's former chairman, launching a crowdfunding campaign aimed at raising £6 million for the takeover bid.
The deal would have handed 70 per cent of Doncaster Rovers to Belize-based company Sequentia Capital SA, with funding that prosecutors revealed came from stolen pension money. Louis agreed to take a 10 per cent stake in exchange for his backing, with ambitious plans to take the League One side to the Premier League.
Celebrity exploitation revealed
The criminals visited Louis's Cheshire home in 2014 and attended a One Direction concert in Dublin where the deal was signed. Daniel Giles texted that day about Louis: "I've been interrogated for the last few hours over 1D boy. Kids want to come to the next meeting mate. I'm thinking 16 million brainwashed followers. Very, very interesting."
Chronicle Live reports that Louis planned to establish "Louis's Room" supporters club and write a football blog as part of his involvement. According to Metro, Louis contractually insisted he would never earn money from Doncaster Rovers, purely wanting to help the club and his community.
The deal collapses
The crowdfunding campaign raised only £600,000, with £500,000 coming as a loan from a firm run by members of the fraud gang themselves. Sequentia Capital SA did not have legitimate funds to complete the purchase, despite Kevin Phelan's empty promises of £20 million in funding.
Louis said he was "gutted" when the deal collapsed: "I am desperate for the club to be given the recognition it deserves. I was told the deal to buy the club was not dependent on the money raised by Crowdfunding. Unfortunately I was misled." There is no suggestion Louis or Ryan knew about the pension fraud.
Prosecutor Timothy Hannam KC told the court: "These defendants nicked money from people's life savings." The defendants are expected to be sentenced in January.
Sources used: "The Mirror", "Yorkshire", "Chronicle Live", "Metro" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
