Firm linked to Craig Whyte lodges claim for entire Rangers payout pool

A COMPANY linked to disgraced former Rangers owner Craig Whyte is making a claim against the whole of the £18 million payout pot for creditors of the liquidated club.

The Herald understands that Law Financial Ltd is seeking up to £25m, saying it holds a security over Rangers oldco RFC 2012 plc. It was first inherited by Mr Whyte when he bought the club from Sir David Murray in May 2011.

If successful, the claim, which is expected to be challenged by the oldco liquidators, would make them the only secured creditor, and first in line ahead of HMRC, ticket agency Ticketus and other unsecured debtors to take money from the pot.

The claim has meant an interim £10m payout to unsecured creditors due to have been made at the end of July, to the tune of about six to seven pence in every pound owed, has had to be delayed.

Law Financial Ltd is owned by the Worthington Group, an investment firm once connected to Mr Whyte that said last year it would stake a legal claim over Rangers’ business and assets.

Mr Whyte was a founding director of Law Financial, which claimed to have former Rangers newco Sevco 5088 as a subsidiary, until he was barred from being a company director in the UK for 15 years in October last year.

Mr Whyte has always insisted the Rangers FC Group he used to buy the club and pay off its £18m debt with Lloyds Banking Group – using future season ticket sales – inherited the bank’s security over the Ibrox outfit’s assets, including Ibrox and Murray Park.

And he has always insisted he was the main driver behind the Sevco 5088 consortium that subsequently bought the liquidated assets of Rangers oldco for £5.5m in June 2012, before it was transferred to a different company called Sevco Scotland, which then became The Rangers Football Club.

Mr Whyte’s main argument was that former chief executive Charles Green had acted as a “front man” for him to take control of the club through Sevco 5088. He claimed the transfer to Sevco Scotland was illegal and Sevco 5088 remained the rightful owner of the club’s assets. Mr Green has always denied he had ever been a “front man” for Mr Whyte.

In April 2013, Worthington revealed it had been granted an option to acquire the whole of Law Financial Ltd, which included Sevco 5088, which it said held a claim “independently reviewed by leading counsel ... to all of the business and assets of RFC 2012 plc which were purchased by Sevco 5088 Limited or Sevco Scotland Ltd from the administrators ... in June of 2012”.

If the option was exercised, the group was to pay a total price of £1m in unsecured convertible loan notes, while it would also give a third of the proceeds of any assets, claims or rights currently owned by Mr Whyte’s companies – including the legal action and the film and book rights to his story – to him.

Worthington said at the time: “It is the position of Sevco 5088 Ltd that it is the rightful owner of the business and those assets. After examination of the evidence, leading counsel’s advice is that there is a prima facie case to answer.”

Included among Law Financial’s assets was the legal action instigated by

Mr Whyte against Mr Green for his claim on Rangers’ assets. BDO has refused to comment on the claim and the delay.

Worthington were linked to the Jerome Pension Fund, which was involved in a legal dispute with several other parties over money seized by former oldco administrators Duff and Phelps from Mr Whyte’s former lawyers, Collyer Bristow. Worthington was claiming £3m of pension funds in the court action.

In November last year, BDO announced that it had banked £24m for Rangers creditors after settling the Collyer Bristow claim. BDO confirmed Londonbased Collyer Bristow had paid the settlement sum in full, bringing the total potentially available to those owed money from the collapse of the club’s business at that time to £28.9m.

Worthington Group were approached for comment.