Louis Tomlinson duped by criminals in multi-million Doncaster Rovers fraud plot

As the public face of a takeover of his boyhood club, Louis Tomlinson hoped he could help it become a football powerhouse.

But the One Direction singer was unaware some of the investors were a gang of pension fraudsters who fleeced millions of pounds from people’s retirement nest eggs. It can be revealed today that Kevin Phelan, Daniel Giles and Adrian Bashforth were convicted last month and face “significant” jail sentences. Prosecutors said the Doncaster deal was used by the crooks to try to cover their tracks and explain away to police the missing cash. Their trial at Leeds crown court heard how Louis became involved with the gang in 2014 through the club’s former chairman John Ryan.

He launched a crowdfunder aimed at raising £6million of investment for the takeover from his 36 million X followers and 20 million online fans.

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The fraudsters met him at his Cheshire home at the peak of 1D’s band’s fame in 2014. He invited several of the gang to a concert in Dublin where he signed the deal that would hand over 70% of Doncaster to Belize-based Sequentia Capital SA if the takeover was successful. The source of the offshore firm’s funds was “stolen pension money”, the court heard.

But the crowdfunder raised just £600,000 and most of that was from a company run by one member of the fraud gang, a £500,000 loan used as a deposit on the deal. Bankrupt Irish businessman Phelan was first asked by Ryan if he wanted to buy the League One club in April 2013.

The court heard Doncaster was insolvent and supported by millions of pounds worth of loans from Ryan and other investors. Two attempts were made that year to buy the club by Sequentia Capital SA, but both collapsed.

Ryan transferred his 30% -shareholding to Sequentia and resigned as Doncaster chairman. A a new deal was agreed the following year with Louis and Ryan acting as its “public face” while Sequentia was “a silent participant, behind the scenes”. Phelan, 62, met the singer at his home in January 2014 to discuss his role if the deal went through.

Giles, texted that day: “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. Let’s crack on now together and build a nice fighting fund.”

Louis agreed to take a 10% stake in the club in exchange for his support in the takeover with -ambitious plans to take Doncaster to the Premier League.

The star would attend matches and training, host a special “Louis’s Room” support club, write a football blog and even consider a one-off One Direction concert at the club’s -Keepmoat Stadium. Louis and Ryan’s ownership would be 10% each, Sequentia’s 70% and 5% would belong to supporters.

Louis met Phelan and Giles, 51, at a One Direction concert in Dublin’s Coke Park to sign the deal. But the poor response to the crowdfunder, it was scrapped and donations returned. Sequentia did not have the money to complete the deal, the court heard, and Phelan’s promises of having £20m of funding was empty.

Louis said at the time: “I’m gutted the Doncaster deal is not going ahead. 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. At the gang’s trial, prosecutor Timothy Hannam KC said: “These defendants nicked money from people’s life savings.”

Over two years £3.7m had been “liberated” by the crooks from the pension pots of more than 200 victims, who received just £1.3m. They will be sentenced in January.