Simon Lock

Roman Abramovich bankrolled major Dutch club while Chelsea owner Leaked documents appear to show that the Russian oligarch funded acquisition of Vitesse Arnhem via network of offshore entities and funnelled millions to…

A cautionary tale for the world of football finance.

Vitesse's meteoric rise and crashing fall all stemmed from its 2010 takeover, when the club began receiving millions from Roman Abramovich through a complex network of offshore loans.

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023...

Geopolitics comes to Vitesse: how ‘Chelsea B’ were swallowed by Abramovich associates | Jacob Steinberg Fans of the Eredivisie club hoped takeovers would transform their fortunes, but instead they face an existential threat to their future

Just over a year since this excellent piece by @jacobsteinberg1.bsky.social and its only become truer.

Vitesse has now had its licence revoked (a decision upheld by the Dutch courts), it can no longer play in professional leagues and may cease to exist.

www.theguardian.com/football/art...

Britain’s fiercest libel firm can pursue anyone, anywhere The government is trying to rein in firms like Carter-Ruck. It’s not easy

The original story, a 5,000 word deep dive on the "most feared" libel firm in the UK is here: www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023...

Anyway, if you like the work, become a member today – TBIJ relies on donations and even small amounts go a long way: www.thebureauinvestigates.com/support-us

Vile firm reaps what it sows.

Interesting update from SRA which comes off the back of Ed's mammoth piece on Carter Ruck back in 2023....

not a violin in the world small enough

NEW: Fake QR codes that trick people into handing over their card details have swept through public parking sites in the UK

John is one of the hundreds of people who’ve been targeted by one of these so-called “quishing” scams (footage from @itvnews.bsky.social)

Unless they're Legoland

Latest investigation from my esteemed colleague @edsiddons.bsky.social - give it a read...

Local council to bulldoze beloved golf course and build 1,500 homes Maidenhead locals are at risk of losing their beloved town's 132-acre golf course, which is set to be demolished and replaced with 1,500 homes, two schools and shops.

Can you do Maidenhead Golf Course next - "green lung" of Berkshire apparently, despite being surrounded on all sides by countryside...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Kakistocracy manifest.

Report: mRNA vaccines are in RFK Jr’s crosshairs; funding in question “Kennedy’s war on vaccines has started,” one researcher said.

mRNA vaccines are legit a near-miracle tech, there's one in testing that might be able to cure pancreatic cancer, and this fucking degenerate might take them from us arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

David Cameron and the pig thing. Classic of the "I want to believe it so it's true" genre

The scenes in the Oval Office today will shame the US for decades. They’ll never be forgotten.

A world leader, fighting for his country against the 21st century’s Nazis, came to the US and was attacked & abused by a gangster regime siding with the fascist invaders.

A historic disgrace.

Oh look, an even newer low.

Every day they reach new lows...

Not even asteroids want anything to do with us

There must be one of those named adages already that anyone who describes themselves as "high IQ" (or views it as some positive attribute in e.g. leadership) is invariably a fucking moron.

The full front cover is dominated by a picture of Zelenskyy. The word BETRAYED is written in German (VERRATEN) across his chest in yellow. The rest of the subtitle is underneath.

Powerful. Tomorrow’s front page of the most influential weekly publication in Germany.

“BETRAYED. First Zelensky, Soon Us? The radical departure of the US from its allies.”

A betrayal as total as it is awful.

Vance’s grotesqueness aside, the whole thing is one of the most horrific acts of betrayal ever committed by a democratic state against another. Just a moral abomination and a permanent stain on everyone who supports it

Richard I with a Top 6 finish? He should thank his lucky stars he got a cool nickname to make up for his abysmal ability to actually govern...

Leopard: I will eat your face

Bank analysts: Our baseline assumes no face-eating

Leopard: Chomp chomp chomp

Smeagol-Deagol backstory revealed

Letters to the Editor - OffshoreAlert

They make quite the reading.... www.offshorealert.com/category/let...

‘I’d love to smash your teeth in’, writes Cayman-based Reny Carter - OffshoreAlert Expletive-laden letters to OffshoreAlert from Reny Carter, of the Cayman Islands, complaining about our publication of two writs for alleged indebtedness that were filed against him by Fidelity Bank (...

It's a small thing but I do love how Offshore Alert publish without fail all the threats/legal threats they receive on their articles.

Wish more publications would do this.

www.offshorealert.com/id-love-to-s...

Roman Abramovich tax dodge must be probed, HMRC urged A group of MPs is urging an investigation into £1bn that could be owed by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

As chair of The APPG on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, I’ve written to HMRC calling on them to urgently investigate the Abramovich case and recover what is owed following reports of a £1bn tax dodge by the sanctioned oligarch

Read more: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Roman Abramovich’s tax affairs must be investigated, MPs say Cross-party group on tax calls for HMRC to act after Guardian investigation finds former Chelsea owner may owe up to £1bn

More than 40 MPs and peers have written to HMRC to say that Roman Abramovich's tax affairs must be investigated in the light of an investigation by the Guardian, @tbij.bsky.social and BBC, which found that the former Chelsea FC owner's companies may owe the UK taxman £1bn. [1/3]

Roman Abramovich evaded millions in VAT with fake yacht hire scheme Billionaire’s agents designed elaborate scheme to fool authorities – then wrote it all out in emails

We also reported on how Abramovich's associates set up a scheme to evade VAT on the operation of his fleet of superyachts.

House of Representatives member Alexandra Attalides asked the Cypriot government to confirm whether Abramovich's yacht company had paid back owed taxes.