Everton are unlikely to have new owners any time soon – but fans rightly upset with the Friedkin Group got a reminder of just how much worse things could have been for them this week.
The Friedkins recently announced they were exploring investment options and a potential sale of the club after a transfer window which left David Moyes with a threadbare squad.
It is understood the American investment firm are not currently in meaningful talks with any interested parties, and they have said they will wait for the “the right stewards to take the club forward” before agreeing a sale.
Everton chairman Dan Friedkin, based in Texas, has invited criticism for being an absentee owner as he has never attended a match, never spoken to Moyes, and handles club business on video calls.
But long-suffering Toffees got a reminder of what might have been on Thursday night when Josh Wander of 777 Partners, who tried to buy the club in 2023, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in a New York court.
Wander ‘stole hundreds of millions’
Once a flamboyant playboy pictured partying with the stars in Miami, the 45-year-old is now likely facing significant jail time. The wire fraud and securities fraud charges he pleaded guilty to as part of a plea bargain carry maximum sentences of 20 years each.
Wander was indicted in the US for orchestrating a scheme to defraud lenders and investors out of $500m (£375m), with some of that money then improperly used to invest in sports teams in which 777 Partners held stakes.
As well as Everton, who borrowed around £200m from 777 while the Miami investment firm waited in vain for Premier League approval to take over the club, there was Standard Liege, Genoa, Hertha Berlin, Red Star Paris, Sevilla, Vasco da Gama, Melbourne Victory, and the British Basketball League’s London Lions.
US AItorney Jamie McDonald said in a statement: “As he has now admitted, Josh Wander used his company, 777 Partners, to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from private creditors and investors.
“Wander double-pledged assets, pledged fictitious assets, lied about the financial condition of his company, and even falsified bank statements, all to gain access to his victims’ funds. He then put those funds to uses that his lenders never permitted, including footing the bill for 777’s collection of professional soccer teams.”
In August of this year, 777 Partners filed for bankruptcy with over 1,500 creditors and debts of over $2bn.
Now it is Wander who must pay. As part of his plea, he agreed to forfeit “at least $500m in proceeds from his illegal scheme”.
Initially, he had pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him, which included two of conspiracy and one of witness tampering. Earlier this year, he petitioned US President Donald Trump for a pre-emptive pardon.
But he was unsuccessful and will now be sentenced in March of next year. It will be his second charge after he pleaded no contest following his arrest on cocaine charges as a 21-year-old.
Had this latest case gone to trial, prosecutors had already informed the judge they would seek to introduce evidence that Wander used “recreational drugs, including cocaine” during the period in which the fraud took place.
Friedkins remain distant
It is difficult to see all of this as anything but a huge bullet dodged by Everton. When the Friedkins came on the scene, they rescued the club from the mess left behind by 777’s aborted purchase, transformed the balance sheet by settling debts, completing the new stadium, and attracting new investment.
But revenues have not grown as quickly as they hoped, virtually no progress has been made with the local authorities on infrastructure development around the ground, and the cost of competing in the Premier League has proved to be bigger than expected.
The Friedkins paid around £300m to purchase the club, and alongside minority investors their total investment has risen substantially since.
They hope to make a quick buck by flipping the club less than two years after they acquired it, and have committed to continue funding it in the meantime – including by backing Moyes with a January spend.
Read more
But while their lack of genuine enthusiasm, minimal communication and transfer market mistakes have rightly attracted the ire of Everton fans who haven’t seen their team win a trophy since 1995, things could have been so much worse.
Kieran Maguire, Professor of Football Finance at Liverpool University, told The i Paper: “There was a real danger that 777 would have used Everton as part of their global plate-spinning operation in terms of transferring debt from one company to another, and the fear is that the plate that could have fallen could have been Everton.”