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Special Episode: The Hidden Financial Crime Risks in Premier League Football Club Ownership
While millions of fans passionately follow their Premier League teams each weekend, few understand the complex web of corporate structures behind club ownership—structures that mirror those used in major financial crime schemes. In this compelling bonus episode of Registries Revealed, Kyckr examines how the beautiful game intersects with the world of beneficial ownership transparency and financial crime risk.
University of Manchester criminologists Nicholas Lord and Peter Duncan share their groundbreaking research revealing how Premier League clubs utilise multi-jurisdictional ownership structures that display classic money laundering red flags:
- Unnecessarily contrived ownership arrangements spanning multiple jurisdictions
- High-risk secrecy jurisdictions including Luxembourg, Delaware, and the Cayman Islands
- Opaque legal vehicles like trusts that obscure ultimate beneficial ownership
- Limited transparency into the source and flow of funds
"The extent to which we can understand who the actual human natural people are behind these entities is challenging, but also understanding the flow of finances through these structures," explains Prof. Nicholas Lord, highlighting key verification challenges that compliance professionals face daily.
Key Insights:
- How seemingly legitimate corporate structures can mirror those designed to obscure beneficial ownership
- Why current "fit and proper persons" tests fail to address structural ownership risks
- The data challenges in tracing ultimate beneficial ownership through complex structures
- How principles-based approaches might better manage risk than arbitrary ownership thresholds
- Parallels between upcoming EU AML regulations for football clubs and broader regulatory trends
Tune in now on your favourite streaming platform:
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3XgiW18
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3EV6XQ2
Read the full report on Premier League Football Regulations from Nicholas Lord and Peter Duncan here:
