Media Sports Investments
Encyclopedia
Media Sports Investments (MSI) is a London-based international investment fund that until June 2006 was headed by the Iranian-born, British-educated, businessman Kia Joorabchian
. It has attracted considerable attention for its ownership between 2004 and 2007 of Corinthians
football club in Brazil, and for its involvement in the 'third-party' ownership of players, notably the Argentinian forward Carlos Tévez
.
The source of the money behind MSI was a subject of considerable speculation. Roman Abramovich
, owner of Chelsea
, was at one time rumored to own a 15% share in the group, while Joorabchian was persistently linked to the oligarch
Boris Berezovsky and his associate Badri Patarkatsishvili
. MSI itself declared that it had "a number of investors mainly based in Britain and Russia".
. The agreed 10-year deal stated that MSI would invest $35 million into the club –$20 million of which would cover debts– in return for 51% of profits over the duration of the contract. In the wake of MSI's involvement a stream of new players arrived at the club, players who were engaged to play for Corinthians but whose economic rights were partly or wholly owned by the investment fund. By 2006 MSI was listing as its investments not just Corinthians itself but also the players Carlos Tévez
, Marcelo Mattos
, Gustavo Nery, Roger
, Javier Mascherano, Carlos Alberto, Sebastián Domínguez
and Marinho
. The signing of Tévez from Boca Juniors
for $22 million in December 2004 was a record for a transfer by a South American club.
The deal to take over Corinthians had been the subject of investigation by the Brazilian police, although no wrongdoing was found. In July 2007, however, a Brazilian judge issued arrest warrants for Boris Berezovsky, Joorabchian, Bedroud and four officials of club, including the chairman, Alberto Dualib
, on charges of money laundering.
The federal attorneys Silvio Luis Martins de Oliveira and Rodrigo de Grandis were reported by the Brazilian legal website consultor Juridico as saying that MSI's transactions were "carried out with the use of numerous offshore accounts which have the single and well-known intention of distancing the investor and the illicit origin of the resources from their final destination, in this case the purchase and sale of players".
In July 2007, in the light of the money laundering allegations, Corinthians broke off their association with MSI. Despite winning the league in 2005, there had already been a public breakdown in relations between Corinthians and MSI. The club had seven different coaches in 18 months, including Daniel Passarella
, Márcio Bittencourt
and Antônio Lopes
, and had struggled for form. Joorabchian's involvement with team affairs had come in for criticism and both Tévez and Javier Mascherano had been moved to West Ham United in the English Premier League. In December 2007 Corinthians was relegated to the Brazilian Championship
's second division
.
The warrant for Joorabchian's arrest was suspended by the Brazilian authorities in August 2008.
club West Ham United
. The plan was abandoned in November of that year when agreement on a valuation of the club could not be reached.
On August 31, 2006, the Corinthians players Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tévez moved to West Ham United. The following day the club announced the opening of "exploratory discussions" over a possible takeover, reportedly by a consortium fronted by Joorabchian and Paul Yeubrey. West Ham in the end accepted a rival bid from investors headed by Eggert Magnússon
.
The transfers of Tévez and Mascherano proved highly controversial. In April 2007 West Ham were fined £5.5 million for failing to reveal the full terms of the ownership of the players. In fact MSI retained a percentage of the economic rights to Tévez, shared with a second company, Just Sports Inc, while Mascherano was owned by Global Soccer Agencies and Mystere Services Ltd. All four companies were represented by Joorabchian who had officially stepped down as president of Media Sports Investments in June 2006.
Joorabchian further stated that he paid West Ham £2 million to release Tévez’s registration so that he could join Manchester United in August 2007 on the understanding that West Ham would return the money with legal costs amounting to £2.6 million. That transfer had itself been subject to a protracted dispute while Joorabchian claimed that MSI and Just Sports Inc retained the economic rights to the player and should therefore receive any fee for the transfer, rather than West Ham as the Premier League insisted. In the end the West Ham received £2 million for the player's registration —the money Joorabchain claimed to have paid West Ham on the understanding that it would be returned.
Joorabchian's claim against West Ham was eventually settled out-of-court with Joorabchian engaged as a consultant by West Ham with fees of more than £2 million.
In March 2009 West Ham agreed to pay Sheffield United £20 million over five years in settlement of the case that they had brought against West Ham when the east London club stayed in the Premier League at the end of the 2006-7 season at Sheffield United's expense while playing Tévez, a player they argued should have been ineligible.
ian player Jô
from CSKA Moscow to Manchester City
was initially blocked by the Premier League while they investigated his association with MSI and Joorabchian. Jô had played at Corinthians before moving to CSKA Moscow in 2006, signing for the Brazilian side while the club was under the control of MSI. Third-party ownership of players was banned by the Premier League in June 2008.
Kia Joorabchian
Kiavash "Kia" Joorabchian is an Iranian-born British-educated businessman largely involved in association football.In the register of directorships at Companies House in London Joorabchain gives two nationalities, Canadian and British, as well as two names, Kia Joorabchian and Kia Kavash, and two...
. It has attracted considerable attention for its ownership between 2004 and 2007 of Corinthians
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, commonly just known as Corinthians , is a Brazilian football club based in the city of São Paulo. They play in the São Paulo state league, as well as the Brasileirão, Brazil's top national league...
football club in Brazil, and for its involvement in the 'third-party' ownership of players, notably the Argentinian forward Carlos Tévez
Carlos Tévez
Carlos Alberto Tévez is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for English club Manchester City...
.
The source of the money behind MSI was a subject of considerable speculation. Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC.In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky...
, owner of Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
, was at one time rumored to own a 15% share in the group, while Joorabchian was persistently linked to the oligarch
Business oligarch
Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", borrowed by the English speaking and western media from post-Soviet parlance to describe the huge, fast-acquired wealth of some businessmen of the former Soviet republics during the privatization in Russia and other post-Soviet...
Boris Berezovsky and his associate Badri Patarkatsishvili
Badri Patarkatsishvili
Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a wealthy Georgian businessman, who was also extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes...
. MSI itself declared that it had "a number of investors mainly based in Britain and Russia".
MSI and Corinthians
MSI was founded in 2004 by Joorabchian and Nojan Bedroud to purchase CorinthiansSport Club Corinthians Paulista
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, commonly just known as Corinthians , is a Brazilian football club based in the city of São Paulo. They play in the São Paulo state league, as well as the Brasileirão, Brazil's top national league...
. The agreed 10-year deal stated that MSI would invest $35 million into the club –$20 million of which would cover debts– in return for 51% of profits over the duration of the contract. In the wake of MSI's involvement a stream of new players arrived at the club, players who were engaged to play for Corinthians but whose economic rights were partly or wholly owned by the investment fund. By 2006 MSI was listing as its investments not just Corinthians itself but also the players Carlos Tévez
Carlos Tévez
Carlos Alberto Tévez is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for English club Manchester City...
, Marcelo Mattos
Marcelo Mattos
Marcelo de Mattos Terra or simply Marcelo Mattos is a Brazilian football defensive midfielder. He currently plays for Botafogo....
, Gustavo Nery, Roger
Roger Galera Flores
Roger Galera Flores or simply Roger , is a Brazilian attacking midfielder. He currently plays for Cruzeiro.-Career:...
, Javier Mascherano, Carlos Alberto, Sebastián Domínguez
Sebastián Domínguez
Sebastián Enrique Domínguez is an Argentine football centre back who plays for Vélez Sársfield in the Argentine Primera División.-Club career:...
and Marinho
Marinho
Marinho may refer to:*Marinho PeresSurname*Carlos Henrique Carneiro Marinho*David Luiz Moreira Marinho*Francisco das Chagas Marinho*Jair Marinho de Oliveira*Marcelo dos Santos Marinho*Manuel Marinho Alves*Roberto Marinho...
. The signing of Tévez from Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
for $22 million in December 2004 was a record for a transfer by a South American club.
The deal to take over Corinthians had been the subject of investigation by the Brazilian police, although no wrongdoing was found. In July 2007, however, a Brazilian judge issued arrest warrants for Boris Berezovsky, Joorabchian, Bedroud and four officials of club, including the chairman, Alberto Dualib
Alberto Dualib
Alberto Dualib is a Turkish-Arabian-Brazilian businessman. Alberto Dualib was Sport Club Corinthians Paulista's chairman between 1993-2007...
, on charges of money laundering.
The federal attorneys Silvio Luis Martins de Oliveira and Rodrigo de Grandis were reported by the Brazilian legal website consultor Juridico as saying that MSI's transactions were "carried out with the use of numerous offshore accounts which have the single and well-known intention of distancing the investor and the illicit origin of the resources from their final destination, in this case the purchase and sale of players".
In July 2007, in the light of the money laundering allegations, Corinthians broke off their association with MSI. Despite winning the league in 2005, there had already been a public breakdown in relations between Corinthians and MSI. The club had seven different coaches in 18 months, including Daniel Passarella
Daniel Passarella
Daniel Alberto Passarella is a former Argentine football centre back and former manager of the Argentine and Uruguayan national football teams. He was captain of the Argentina team that won the 1978 World Cup...
, Márcio Bittencourt
Márcio Bittencourt
Henrymárcio Bittencourt is a retired Brazilian professional footballer and coach, who is the current manager of Icasa.-Club career:...
and Antônio Lopes
Antônio Lopes
Antônio Lopes dos Santos, usually known as Antônio Lopes is a Brazilian football manager and former footballer....
, and had struggled for form. Joorabchian's involvement with team affairs had come in for criticism and both Tévez and Javier Mascherano had been moved to West Ham United in the English Premier League. In December 2007 Corinthians was relegated to the Brazilian Championship
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A , popularly known as the Brasileirão , is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B...
's second division
Campeonato Brasileiro Série B
The Série B is the second division of Brazilian football. It is played by 20 teams. However, the competition format has changed almost every year since it first occurred, in 1971. In some years, it was not played altogether...
.
The warrant for Joorabchian's arrest was suspended by the Brazilian authorities in August 2008.
MSI and West Ham
In 2005 MSI was involved in negotiations to take over the EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
club West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
. The plan was abandoned in November of that year when agreement on a valuation of the club could not be reached.
On August 31, 2006, the Corinthians players Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tévez moved to West Ham United. The following day the club announced the opening of "exploratory discussions" over a possible takeover, reportedly by a consortium fronted by Joorabchian and Paul Yeubrey. West Ham in the end accepted a rival bid from investors headed by Eggert Magnússon
Eggert Magnússon
Eggert Magnússon is an Icelandic businessman and former President of the Football Association of Iceland and ex-chairman of West Ham United...
.
The transfers of Tévez and Mascherano proved highly controversial. In April 2007 West Ham were fined £5.5 million for failing to reveal the full terms of the ownership of the players. In fact MSI retained a percentage of the economic rights to Tévez, shared with a second company, Just Sports Inc, while Mascherano was owned by Global Soccer Agencies and Mystere Services Ltd. All four companies were represented by Joorabchian who had officially stepped down as president of Media Sports Investments in June 2006.
Claim against West Ham United
In a compensation claim against West Ham, undertaken in March 2008, Joorabchian claimed that following the Premier League ruling in April 2007 he had brokered a deal between West Ham and Tévez's third-party owners. MSI and Just Sports Inc had initially been reluctant to terminate their ownership arrangement as requested by the Premier League. Joorabchian said that under the terms of the deal West Ham had agreed to pay £4.7 million — later reduced to £4.5 million — to cover costs, the player’s salary, expenses and a loan fee —thereby suggesting that Tévez was paid a salary and expenses beyond that being covered by the club.Joorabchian further stated that he paid West Ham £2 million to release Tévez’s registration so that he could join Manchester United in August 2007 on the understanding that West Ham would return the money with legal costs amounting to £2.6 million. That transfer had itself been subject to a protracted dispute while Joorabchian claimed that MSI and Just Sports Inc retained the economic rights to the player and should therefore receive any fee for the transfer, rather than West Ham as the Premier League insisted. In the end the West Ham received £2 million for the player's registration —the money Joorabchain claimed to have paid West Ham on the understanding that it would be returned.
Joorabchian's claim against West Ham was eventually settled out-of-court with Joorabchian engaged as a consultant by West Ham with fees of more than £2 million.
Manchester Transfers
In August 2007 Tévez joined Manchester United on a two-year deal in which his player's registration was leased by the club while his economic rights were retained by his third-party owners. Only when he signed for Manchester City in September 2009 was Tévez removed from the third-party ownership of MSI and Just Sports Inc. That deal was reported as being worth £47 million to the companies owning Tévez's economic rights, although that sum was disputed by Joorabchian.In March 2009 West Ham agreed to pay Sheffield United £20 million over five years in settlement of the case that they had brought against West Ham when the east London club stayed in the Premier League at the end of the 2006-7 season at Sheffield United's expense while playing Tévez, a player they argued should have been ineligible.
Jô
In June 2008 the transfer of BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian player Jô
Jo
JO, Jo or jo may refer to:*Jō, a ~4-foot-long wooden staff used in some Japanese martial arts*Cho , , also spelled Jo, a common Korean family name*Jo , a 1971 French comedy...
from CSKA Moscow to Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
was initially blocked by the Premier League while they investigated his association with MSI and Joorabchian. Jô had played at Corinthians before moving to CSKA Moscow in 2006, signing for the Brazilian side while the club was under the control of MSI. Third-party ownership of players was banned by the Premier League in June 2008.