Ex-Northampton Town chairman among five charged with fraud

Five men have been charged with fraud related to a multimillion-pound loan to a League One football club.

The former chairman of Northampton Town FC, David Cardoza, is accused alongside his father Anthony, property developer Howard Grossman and his son Marcus and another man, Simon Patnick.

It follows a nine-year police investigation into the apparent disappearance of more than £10m loaned to the club by the then Northampton Borough Council.

The five are due to appear at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The men face fifteen charges between them:

• Anthony Cardoza, 80, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, is accused of conspiring to commit fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.
• David Cardoza, 54, from Eastbourne, Sussex, is accused of conspiring to commit fraud by false representation, fraud by abuse of position and transferring criminal property.
• Howard Grossman, 63, from Bushey, Hertfordshire, has been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation alongside four counts of removing criminal property and a charge of acquiring criminal property.
• Marcus Grossman, 37, from London, is alleged to have committed fraud by false representation and transferred criminal property.
• Simon Patnick, 54, from Stanmore, London, has also been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and acquiring criminal property.

Each man is accused of conspiring to make false representations to the council that the loan money would be used for the sole purpose of developing Northampton Town FC’s Sixfields Stadium and an adjoining hotel.

It is alleged they knew this was “untrue or misleading” and that the men were “intending to make a gain for themselves”, the charges state.

David and Anthony Cardoza have also been charged with fraud by abuse of position, which relates to a sum of £8.75m being paid from the football club to 1st Land Limited, a company owned by Howard Grossman.

It is more than nine years since Northamptonshire Police began Operation Tuckhill – its investigation into the apparent disappearance of the loan money, which was passed on to the club in order to develop a new stand and a hotel.

The East Stand remained half built for 10 years and is only now being completed.

The force said the alleged theft from Northampton Borough Council was only one element of a much wider investigation which has, over the past nine years, “seen almost 1,000 witness statements taken and 4,719 exhibits logged by the specialist team set up in the wake of the initial police raids on the football stadium in November 2015”.

In a statement, Northampton Town FC acknowledged “the recent statement from Northamptonshire Police regarding the previous owners of the club back in 2015”.

It continued: “The club were always aware of the ongoing investigation and – in terms of the club now – it is obviously historic in nature.”