Aston Villa: Randy Lerner and the missing £25m

Oct 17 2010 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

ASTON Villa boss Randy Lerner is locked in a huge legal battle over a ‘missing’ £25 million investment, the Sunday Mercury can reveal.

The billionaire soccer supremo is going to court in a bid to recover the fortune he paid into a New York hedge fund three years ago.

It is being run by a firm called Paige Capital Management, owned by sisters Michele and Jessica Paige, and Republican politician Christopher Paige.

Mr Lerner’s lawyers claim the company has repeatedly refused to allow him to withdraw his cash – or even tell him where it has been invested.

In court papers the billionaire states that the “improper concealment of this most basic information is a fundamental breach of their duties” and raises ‘‘serious questions” about whether cash has been misappropriated.

But Paige Capital is defending the action and accused Mr Lerner of trying to avoid massive early withdrawal penalties.

The company has stated: “We are fully prepared to litigate this matter to the bitter end because we will continue to manage your money, and collect management and incentive fees, until this matter is resolved many years hence.

“You cannot win because you will spend more litigating than we’re fighting over… we decide the best way to protect the funds, and your opinion is irrelevant.”

Randy Lerner took over Aston Villa in 2006 and invested heavily in the ground and players.

But last season the club made a pre-tax loss of £30 million on a turnover of £84 million – principally due to a sky-high £70 million wage bill.