Belokon wins round one of multi-million Tangerines dispute

Latvian millionaire Valeri Belokon has scored a victory in the first round of a multi-million pound dispute with the owners of football club Blackpool.

Belokon, who is the club president of the famous League Two side and runs VB Football Assets, claims that when the club was promoted to the Premier League in 2010, the majority owners (the Oyston family) took tens of millions of pounds out of the club.

Belokon also claims revenue had been withheld to recoup capital expenditure to develop Bloomfield Road stadium, home of the club nicknamed the Tangerines.

At a hearing in Manchester’s High Court, Chris Yates, a partner in law firm Clifford Chance and Andrew Green QC and  Fraser Campbell of Blackstone Chambers, represented Belokon while the Oyston family were represented by HHB Law managing director Richard Bell and XXIV Old Buildings’ Alan Steinfeld QC.

The court rejected the Oyston family’s argument that an agreement was made over investment money in 2010.

The defendants are believed to be paying £425,000 in costs to Belokon, while the Latvian is also understood to be applying for an interim payment based on outstanding debts of around £1m.

In the summer, an unfair prejudice petition will be heard at London’s Companies Court against the Oyston’s management of the club. The hearing is expected to last five weeks.

According to The Lawyer, legal fees on the case are already nearing £1.5m