Josh Wander, co-founder of 777 Partners, the investment group that once pursued a takeover of Everton, has pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding investors. The 45-year-old admitted to wire and securities fraud in a plea deal with Manhattan federal prosecutors, entered one day before his trial was due to begin. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
As part of the plea, Wander agreed to forfeit at least $500million (£442.6m) in proceeds from his scheme. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on March 1, 2027.
777 Partners' proposed takeover of Everton collapsed in June 2024, nine months after an agreement had been struck to buy the Premier League club, at a time when the group was facing multiple lawsuits.
On Thursday, Wander admitted to borrowing money in 2021 and 2022 based on figures that exaggerated his company's assets. "At the time that I did these things I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I am deeply sorry for my conduct," he told Judge Oetken, in quotes carried by the Associated Press.
Prosecutors had accused Wander of using 777 Partners to take hundreds of millions of dollars from private lenders and investors by pledging fictitious assets, falsifying bank statements and misleading them about the company's financial health. He was accused of using that money to help fund the group's purchases of multiple football clubs.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said of the guilty plea: "As he has now admitted, Josh Wander used his company, 777 Partners, to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from private creditors and investors. Wander double-pledged assets, pledged fictitious assets, lied about the financial condition of his company, and even falsified bank statements, all to gain access to his victims' funds."
McDonald added: "He then put those funds to uses that his lenders never permitted, including footing the bill for 777's collection of professional soccer teams. Whether perpetrated in the private or public markets, such brazen conduct undermines the integrity of our financial system and will not be tolerated."
Damien Alfalla, the former chief financial officer of 777 Partners, had already pleaded guilty.
Wander's 777 Partners moved into buying controlling stakes in football clubs in 2021, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Germany's Hertha Berlin, Italian club Genoa, Standard Liege of Belgium, Paris-based Red Star FC and Brazilian club Vasco da Gama all came under the group's multi-club portfolio, which also held minority stakes in Spanish club Sevilla and Melbourne Victory of Australia.
The group's pursuit of Everton, nine-time champions of England, collapsed in 2024 after a lengthy process. 777 Partners also held a stake in Australian airline Bonza, which entered voluntary administration in 2024.
