The son of Alistair Campbell, the former spin doctor for Tony Blair and the Labour Party, could face police action after his gambling syndicate collapsed… costing punters more than £5 million.
According to reports, Rory Campbell set up a gambling fund that wagered millions on Asian handicaps – accessing what are thought to be unlicensed, ‘illegal’ bookmakers in the Asian market to secure the very best prices.
But now those bookies are unable to pay out on the syndicate’s winnings due to their own financial position… costing its members £5 million in monies owed.
Some of those that have been left out of pocket are even threatening to call in the police as they seek to recoup their losses.
The Black Hole
Campbell has a background in football, having worked for West Ham as a technical scout and analyst.
He told syndicate members that they would benefit from his expertise in the sport, bolstered by proprietary analytical models to predict results that were of Campbell’s own design.
To access the best odds, the syndicate would place bets directly with Asian-based bookmakers, who often charge lower overrounds than their UK licensed counterparts.
However, those firms often have a more relaxed regulatory environment to operate in than UK bookies, which can leave punters out of pocket if the company is declared bankrupt, cannot settle bets or simply ‘disappears’ altogether.
There’s also challenges to be faced when trying to settle bets and accounts with a firm that has little in the way of rules and regulations to follow… as Campbell’s syndicate had found out to its cost.
With some of the Asian bookmakers unable to pay out on the network’s activity, Campbell has been forced to admit to his investors that they many never see a penny of their money again – despite previously promising that they would be ‘paid in the summer’.
However, in December, punters were informed by Campbell’s legal team that the syndicate had ‘collapsed’ after being unable to recoup the money.
It’s thought that around 50 people are affected, with investments of between £10,000 and a sky-scraping £500,000. Among them is thought to be Alistair Campbell himself, who invested a rumoured £300,000 into his son’s business.
A smaller sect of the overall group have now joined forces to bring legal action against Campbell, having put together a dossier of messages and emails to pass on to the authorities. The package also reveals a contract that punters would have to sign in order to join the syndicate, as well as accounts that showed the group to be profitable.
Lord of the Files
In a bid to clear his name, Rory Campbell has called upon the services of Lord Charlie Falconer – a sometime Labour politician and barrister who served as the Lord Chancellor during Tony Blair’s spell as prime minister.
Falconer, a one-time flatmate of Campbell’s, was asked to meet with syndicate members just before Christmas in a bid to ward off legal action.
He tried to negotiate a financial settlement to be paid by the Campbells to the affected punters, however the sum was said to be derisory in comparison to the lost investment.
One syndicate member tried to withdraw their funds (approximately £160,000) after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, only to be told that the money was gone. After promises of payments in July and December passed by, the investor wrote to Campbell:
“Are you going to send some money soon or are you just hoping I die before you need to pay up?”
Another investor revealed that Rory Campbell had told them that the maximum loss that the fund could suffer was ‘no more than 5%’, with suitable risk management strategies in place.
“All the money has just disappeared,” they told the Mail on Sunday.
“He [Campbell] has provided absolutely zero evidence of where it has gone, and we want a proper explanation of where all the millions of pounds have gone.
“He has at least finally admitted there is a massive financial black hole, which he denied for a long time, but this has left a lot of people in serious financial trouble.”
Although Rory Campbell is yet to comment, a spokesperson told the Mail on Sunday:
“You appear to have been given an incomplete and in several respects inaccurate account of a highly complex set of issues, which are currently the subject of what we had understood to be confidential negotiations intended to seek a resolution between the various parties.
“Given the confidential nature of the discussions, we are not at liberty to make any further comment at this stage.”