A bid by four former Premiere League players to recoup some of their losses linked to a film financing company has been quashed by the high court.
Anthony Barness, Kevin Campbell, Danny Murphy and Gary Teale all borrowed money from two banks, NatWest and Coutts, to invest in schemes run by Ingenious Media.
The money, which was promoted as being eligible for 100% tax relief, was invested in films and video games.
HM Revenue & Customs, however, stated that the investors could only claim a 30% exemption.
HMRC has already won a first-tier and an upper tribunal case against hundreds if investors, resulting in them being hit with a collective £451m ($592m, €534m) tax bill.
Some of the celebrities involved include David Beckham, Guy Ritchie and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Going after the banks
Over 500 investors, represented by law firms Mischcon de Reya, Stewards Law, Peters & Peters Solicitors, are pursuing legal action through the England & Wales high court to recover their losses.
The four ex-footballers are all represented by Peters & Peters and are suing the two banks, Ingenious Media and their financial advisory firm, which was known as Kingsbridge Asset Management at the time but has since rebranded as Formation Asset Management.
All of them took out loans, ranging between £175,000 and £1.1m, to invest in the Ingenious film schemes.
The banks, however, strongly disputed the accusations that they were in breach of contract and asked the court to strike down the footballers’ claims.
On 3 December, the high court agreed, stating that the case against the banks “had no real prospect of success”.
This is not the end of the road for the Ingenious investors, however, as the court records state that there are many more cases to be heard.
