Everton paid £30m in interest to lender with links to tax exile, documents suggest

Exclusive: Charges relate to £225m debt with Rights & Media Funding, with records suggesting a trail leading to Michael Tabor

Everton has paid about £30m in interest charges to an opaque lender associated with a tax exile, corporate records suggest.

The charges appear to have reached about £438,000 a week, according to the troubled Premier League club’s most recent set of accounts, a figure more than three times the reported wages of the Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

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Everton owner received £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies, documents suggest

Exclusive: Questions mount over ties between Farhad Moshiri and tycoon, before he was put under sanctions

The Everton Football Club owner, Farhad Moshiri, received more than £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies in the run-up to the Russian billionaire being placed under sanctions, documents suggest, raising fresh questions about the financial ties between the two men.

Records seen by the Guardian appear to show that Moshiri borrowed £145m from a company wholly owned by the Russian-Uzbek tycoon from about 2020.

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Treasury’s sanctions police ‘reviewing’ finances of Everton FC owner, Guardian understands

Farhad Moshiri reportedly a ‘person of interest’ at special unit over links to sanctioned oligarch Alisher Usman

The Treasury’s sanctions police have been reviewing the finances of the Everton Football Club owner, Farhad Moshiri, the Guardian understands.

Moshiri appears to have become a person of interest to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) because of his links to Alisher Usmanov, the Russian-Uzbek billionaire who was sanctioned by the UK, the EU and the US after last year’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Wife and children of earthquake victim Christian Atsu join Newcastle tribute

Minute’s applause held at St James’ Park, where Ghanaian footballer spent five years

Tributes have been paid to the Ghanaian and former Premier League footballer Christian Atsu, who was found dead under the earthquake rubble of his home in Turkey.

There was a minute’s applause for Atsu on Saturday at St James’ Park before Newcastle United’s game against Liverpool, which his wife and children attended. Atsu spent five years at Newcastle from 2016 to 2021.

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Stake.com told not to use Everton branding in $5,000 betting offer

Club’s shirt sponsor criticised for offering $10 free bet to anyone who wagers large amount in a week

Everton FC has told its sponsor Stake.com to stop using its imagery in an international promotion offering a $10 free bet to anyone who wagers $5,000 in the space of a week.

Football fans and campaign groups had criticised the marketing scheme and questioned Everton’s apparent involvement.

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Southampton pledge bans after fans detained for ‘mocking’ Emiliano Sala

• Two men filmed making plane gestures during Cardiff game
• Fan behaviour back in spotlight after four arrests at Watford

Police have detained two Southampton fans who appeared to mock the death of the Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala, on a day when unrelated incidents put fan disorder back in the spotlight.

At St Mary’s, two men were filmed apparently making plane gestures during Southampton’s defeat to Cardiff in reference to the crash which killed Sala and left the light aircraft’s pilot, David Ibbotson, missing.

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