Investors Threaten to Call in Police After Collapse of Alastair Campbell’s Son’s Football Betting Syndicate

Alastair Campbell is facing losses running into hundreds of thousands of pounds following the collapse of a football betting syndicate run by his son. The Mail on Sunday has more.

Tony Blair’s former spin chief is understood to be among those alleged to have lost a total of more than £5 million from Rory Campbell’s venture, with some out-of-pocket investors now threatening to go to the police.

The row has dragged in Charlie Falconer, Mr. Blair’s Lord Chancellor and former flatmate, who held meetings with syndicate members shortly before Christmas to “calm tempers” after they were told that they would not be able to recoup their losses.

The syndicate bet on the Premier League, the German Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga using mathematical models intended to give it an edge over the rest of the betting market by assessing the effect of injuries, how well players link up and factors such as the weather.

Sources said that Rory, 37, told investors in April that “everyone will get paid in the summer” and “there is absolutely no hole” in the fund, before in June promising again that they would be paid back in full by the end of July.

But it is claimed that on July 18th he warned they might receive “in the region of 50%-65%” of their investment.

Two weeks ago, his lawyers are said to have informed them that the venture had collapsed because bookmakers in Asia had failed to pay their debts.

Last night, a representative for Rory Campbell said: “You appear to have been given an incomplete and in several respects inaccurate account of a highly complex set of issues, which are currently the subject of what we had understood to be confidential negotiations intended to seek a resolution between the various parties.

“It is a matter of concern and very disappointing to learn from you that these confidences have been broken. Given the confidential nature of the discussions, we are not at liberty to make any further comment at this stage.”

More than 50 people are understood to have placed between £10,000 and £500,000 each in the syndicate over the past five years, with Alastair Campbell and his partner Fiona Millar believed to have invested nearly £300,000.

Around 20 of the investors have compiled a dossier of evidence to pass to the police, including contracts setting out how the syndicate would run, bank statements, emails stating that the fund was profitable and spreadsheets detailing how much it was supposedly making.

The sources said that Lord Falconer met twice with investors to try and negotiate a financial settlement on behalf of the Campbell family, most recently in early December.

The meetings have been described by sources as “long and bruising”. This newspaper has seen correspondence between Rory and one investor who tried to withdraw his money from the syndicate last year after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Worth reading in full.