The American founder of a failed investment company that was once one of the biggest accumulators of European football clubs was accused of fraud and other offenses in an indictment made public by US prosecutors on Thursday (16).
The accused, Josh Wander, an arrogant Miami businessman, attracted scrutiny after buying soccer teams on three continents through 777 Partners, a company he co-founded. According to the indictment, unsealed in a New York City federal court, Wander fabricated financial documents and made misleading claims in an effort to “defraud creditors and investors” of up to $500 million.
In total, Wander was charged with wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to commit each of these crimes.
Damien Alfalla, the company’s chief financial officer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to an unspecified charge and is cooperating with the government, according to an FBI statement.
Separately, on Thursday, the SEC (the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) sued Wander; Steven Pasko, co-founder of 777 Partners; and Alfalla. It also sued 777 Partners and another company founded by Wander.
Separately on Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Wander; Steven Pasko, co-founder of 777 Partners; and Alfalla. It also sued 777 Partners and another company founded by Wander.
The criminal charges and SEC action come a year after Wander almost added one of English football’s most historic clubs to his company’s club portfolio.
Wander’s attempt to buy the team, Everton Football Club, aroused the interest of the sporting world, the investment community and authorities. In May 2024, one of 777’s creditors accused her of running a years-long fraud scheme. Since then, the company’s UK operation has been declared bankrupt by the British high court, and its main US business has been placed into receivership.
The charges against Wander cap off nearly two years of mounting allegations against him and his company, which for years made bold claims about its financial health — it previously claimed to have US$10 billion (R$54.4 billion) in assets — even as it was dogged by a series of lawsuits, corporate bankruptcies and unpaid bills.
The 17-page complaint, published Thursday, said many of these allegations were false.
“To obtain financing for the company’s operations, for example, Wander offered more than US$350 million (R$1.9 billion) in assets as collateral to private creditors, knowing that 777 Partners either did not have the collateral or had already offered it to other creditors,” the indictment said. Wander was also accused of using creditors’ money for purposes other than those for which he had promised to use it, including buying stakes in football teams and expenses related to a loss-making airline.
“This is a business dispute disguised as a criminal case,” Wander’s attorney, Jordan Estes, said in an email. “We look forward to getting the facts straight.”
Jay Clayton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in a statement: “When financial companies lie to their creditors, they are not just breaking contracts. They undermine the integrity and stability of our credit markets and our financial system more broadly.”
Many of the details published in the complaint reflect allegations made in a lawsuit filed in May last year by Leadenhall Capital Partners, a London-based asset management firm, which alleged that 777 made false statements to secure US$600 million (R$3.3 billion) in financing.
It was a quick fall for Wander, who in autumn 2023 announced to the Financial Times that he was the most significant investor the multibillion-dollar football industry had ever seen. “Is there anyone in the world who has taken buying football clubs more seriously in history than Josh Wander?” Wander said at the time.
When the true financial state of his company was discovered, several teams the company directly owned, and others to which it owed money, were exposed.
His portfolio included participation in teams in Australia, Brazil, Belgium, France and Germany, with almost all of them facing payroll difficulties during their tenure at the company. Some of the teams have since changed hands, while the future of the others remains uncertain. 777’s largest creditor — A-Cap, owner of several insurance companies — took control of the sports assets.
While he was on the rise, Wander made a point of being present at the most important football events, photographed alongside the industry’s most notable figures. He even managed to secure a seat on the board of a group reserved for European football’s most powerful clubs.
Wander and Pasko, Wall Street veterans, wouldn’t have been seen as typical sports team investors when they started 777 Partners in 2015. At the time, the firm’s main investments were in structured settlements, an obscure industry in which beneficiaries of long-term annuities, typically resulting from claims, redeem them for lump sums of cash.
Investment in European football began with a minority stake in Sevilla, one of Spain’s main clubs. This investment is now the subject of a separate process in the country. Last year, Brazilian authorities were forced to intervene and suspend 777’s ownership of Vasco da Gama, one of Rio de Janeiro’s most historic teams. In Italy, Genoa, with more than 130 years of existence, also faces ownership difficulties after being sold to a Romanian businessman.
Wander was part of a larger group of American businessmen who sought to profit from the football industry by securing rights to multiple teams at once, a now widespread practice known as multi-club ownership. Supporter groups have argued that the ownership structure has caused harm to several teams. Just this year, an American investor was accused of fraud in Belgium, and another was forced to relinquish control of one of France’s biggest teams.
