777 Partners’ Josh Wander, whose Miami-based investment group tried to buy Everton Football Club, has been charged with wire and securities fraud by federal prosecutors in New York.
Wander is alleged to have defrauded lenders and investors out of nearly $500 million (€427 million), according to court documents unsealed on Thursday, and to have pledged more than $350 million in assets as collateral to private lenders while knowing that 777 “either did not own the collateral or had already pledged” it to others.
He also allegedly sold preferred equity in 777 based on “misrepresentations regarding the financial condition of the business”.
Jordan Estes, a lawyer for Wander, said the indictment was “a business dispute dressed up as a criminal case. We look forward to setting the record straight.”
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The indictment is the latest blow to Wander, whose ambitions to buy an English Premier League club collapsed last year.
777 copied a model adopted by other prominent asset managers which have in recent years bought up insurance assets as a cheap source of capital and deployed them into non-traditional investments in search of higher returns.
Under Wander’s leadership, 777 expanded from the niche world of structured settlements – paying victims of accidents or lottery winners a discounted sum up front in exchange for the full value of legal settlements – into a prolific buyer of football clubs.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, 777 bought into football clubs in Italy, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, France and Australia. It also owned the London Lions basketball team and invested in budget airlines and Boeing jets.
The deal for Everton ultimately fell apart after the group’s reinsurance business unravelled and lenders, including Leadenhall Capital, accused the firm of fraud, which 777 denied.
According to the indictment, 777 allegedly used “fraudulently obtained funds” to pay for the aircraft and “cover millions of dollars in expenses” relating to the London Lions and a minority stake in Spanish football club Sevilla FC.
The indictment said 777 faced “increasing liquidity constraints” as early as 2021 and that its financial issues “worsened in late 2023 and early 2024” .
It also alleged that Wander “falsely claimed” in a presentation that 777 “had a projected consolidated net income for 2021 of more than $130 million, and that investors would receive a 10 per cent dividend on $250 million of newly issued preferred equity”.
In Leadenhall Capital’s 2024 lawsuit it accused the firm of fraud by double-pledging $350 million of collateral, describing Everton as “the latest shiny object of Wander’s fraudulent scheme”. Proceedings in the case are ongoing.
The deal to buy Everton fell apart in June 2024, just weeks after 777 denied Leadenhall’s accusations and called in restructuring experts. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
