The former director of a football club appeared in court this week after his property empire collapsed, reports the Yorkshire Post..
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div>The former director of a football club appeared in court this week after his property empire collapsed, reports the Yorkshire Post.
Mr Morris, ex-director of Leeds United, was also accused of hiding gold bullion and millions of pounds in Swiss bank accounts in an attempt to mislead creditors after he was issued with the bankruptcy notice, as Newcastle Magistrates Court heard the details of the charges against the former football boss under the Insolvency Act.
The property magnate served as a Director of Leeds United Football club in 2004 after a consortium of new owners took over the club.
He tabled a £10 million bid to buy the side and articulated plans to build a new 50,000-seater stadium as part of a £400 million “world-class leisure venue”, only to be beaten by the club’s long-serving chairman Ken Bates.
Before the age of 30, Morris had made a fortune through buy-to-let properties worth £69 million, ranking sixth in the Sunday Times’ Young Rich List in 2007.
At the hearing, Lorraine Harris, prosecuting on behalf of the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) revealed that Morris was a property developer whose business practices attracted attention from the media in 2007.
Harris told the court: “Mr Morris sold properties and moved funds to Credit Suisse bank accounts totalling over one million pounds and into the millions and the removal of gold bullion.”
It was also discovered that the Bank of Ireland began to reconsider a number of loans forward to Morris following a BBC Panorama documentary made in 2008 about the businessman, leading him to come under increasing financial pressure.
Morris, formerly of Ling Lane, Scarcroft, Leeds, addressed the court only to confirm his name and state his new address - Beech Lodge, Wetherby Road, Bardsey - during the brief hearing.
The first charge against Morris stated: “On May 17 2009 at Leeds, being a debtor, fraudulently omitted to do an act, namely declare eight one-kilogram bars of gold and Credit Suisse Bank accounts...for the purpose of obtaining the approval of your creditors to a proposal for a voluntary agreement under the Insolvency Act 1986”, the title reported.
The second charge relates to Morris failing to disclose details of his estate to the official receiver between 8th October 2009 and 14th December 2010.
No pleas were made in relation to the charges brought against him, with Morris being granted unconditional bail until a plea; a hearing will take place at Newcastle Crown Court next month.
The former property tycoon was previously jailed in 2011 after being found guilty of conspiracy to blackmail a former partner, estate agent Hedley Manton, out of £100,000.
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