COMPLEX TRAIL KEPT SAM'S SECRET FOR 12 YEARS
Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:14 pm
The complex paper trail that kept Sam Hammam's identity as Cardiff City debt owner Langston hidden for 12 years
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/2016/02/0 ... r-dispute/
BY DAVID JAMES
Sam Hammam's admission in litigation with Cardiff City that he was the man behind a £24m loan to the club brings to an end 12 years of mystery
For more than a decade, it has been one of the biggest question marks hanging over the future of Cardiff City.
Who or what is Langston - the mysterious Panama-based firm whose loan of £24m to the club in 2004 during the chairmanship of Sam Hammam had taken the club to the High Court and the brink of administration several times.
A WalesOnline investigation in 2007 revealed the extraordinary paper trail that had kept Langston's backer's secret.
From discreet post boxes in Geneva, Switzerland, to two of the world’s most exotic offshore banking centres, the paper trail crossed the world.
The only address
The caution of Langston's backers was summed up by the nondescript photograph of a corridor in a residential Swiss street pictured above.
This corridor is on Rue Jacques-Balmat, a residential street in Geneva. It leads to a series of a postal boxes.
One of those boxes was the only publicly published address used by one of Langston’s parent companies when it made a significant investment in an American IT firm called Limelight.
The only named representative
The only man Cardiff City could identify at the time as being directly involved Langston is Philippe Tischhauser, a respected Swiss accountant.
He has an MBA, is a director of several companies and is a leading member of Geneva’s Chamber of Commerce.
When WalesOnline rang him in 2007, he refused to comment on anything to do with Langston, saying: “I cannot say anything about this project.”
This Swiss accountant has a history with Cardiff City going back to at least 2002.
Cardiff City fans recall a players’ function at the Angel Hotel, Cardiff, at which they were introduced to a Swiss banker called Philippe, who Sam Hammam said was a prospective investor in Cardiff City.
Supporter Vince Alm said at the time: “I remember being introduced to him, although we didn’t chat. Sam said he was a Swiss banker and a potential investor in Cardiff City.”
Former City chairman Peter Ridsdale confirmed to us at the time that he too had met Mr Tischhauser several times.
He said: “I have met Philippe Tischhauser three times, twice at Ninian Park and once in London with Sam.
“He is not a part of Langston. He is an intermediary, but he is our only contact with Langston.”
Panama in 2004
Langston's own story starts at the same time the loan was made to the club for £24m in September 2004.
The name Langston was only registered in Panama just days before those loan notes were made.
Panama has been growing in popularity as an offshore banking centre since former dictator Manuel Noriega was deposed nearly 20 years ago.
The Central American state does not require companies to file accounts or list shareholders but it does ask they register three directors, in this case three companies named Miakunal, Matabor and Mardeco.
And that is what enabled us to trace the story of Langston back five years further.
The British Virgin Islands in 1999
The tactic of setting up separate companies for investments is one that Langston's backers appear to have used more than once.
The Langston story begins on January 12, 1999, when three companies were registered in the British Virgin Islands, another offshore banking centre.
All of the companies – Miakunal, Matabor and Mardeco – do not list any directors.
The only information they are registered with is a representative.
For all three firms, the representative is the same British Virgin Islands based company McNamara Corporate Services.
One further step in the paper trail
Very little else is known about these three firms, except for one investment in which Miakunal was involved in the United States.
Through another British Virgin Islands-registered company called Amalia, of which it is a director, Miakunal made a significant investment in an American IT company called Limelight.
It was in doing this deal, that a man called Pierre Grandjean and a woman Marie-Helene Lanjard listed their names as representatives of Miakunal and gave their address as their postal box in Geneva pictured at the top of the story.
Pierre Grandjean was, in 1995, sub-director of the Luxembourg branch of 200-year-old Swiss bank Pictet & Cie, the same bank that was later involved in correspondence with Cardiff City saying it had carried out due diligence on Langston.
A windfall in 1999?
This is just a hypothesis, but the most obvious conclusion is that someone, or some people, who came into some money in 1998 or early 1999 set up the three British Virgin Islands firms as offshore holding vehicles in January 1999 and have been investing it through other companies ever since.
When we carried out our investigations in 2007, Sam Hammam had publicly denied being involved with Langston in any other way than as a mediator with Cardiff City.
He refused to comment on our investigation into Langston at the time, saying simply: “We don’t need to talk about this.”
Finally, as part of the litigation process that led to the Langston loan notes being resolved, he did need to talk about it, as Capital Law, the Bluebirds' solicitors, revealed on Monday.
Senior Partner Chris Nott said: "The key to moving things on was finally getting Mr Hammam to admit that he was in fact Langston.
"That was the major factor from the club's perspective anyway."
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/2016/02/0 ... r-dispute/
BY DAVID JAMES
Sam Hammam's admission in litigation with Cardiff City that he was the man behind a £24m loan to the club brings to an end 12 years of mystery
For more than a decade, it has been one of the biggest question marks hanging over the future of Cardiff City.
Who or what is Langston - the mysterious Panama-based firm whose loan of £24m to the club in 2004 during the chairmanship of Sam Hammam had taken the club to the High Court and the brink of administration several times.
A WalesOnline investigation in 2007 revealed the extraordinary paper trail that had kept Langston's backer's secret.
From discreet post boxes in Geneva, Switzerland, to two of the world’s most exotic offshore banking centres, the paper trail crossed the world.
The only address
The caution of Langston's backers was summed up by the nondescript photograph of a corridor in a residential Swiss street pictured above.
This corridor is on Rue Jacques-Balmat, a residential street in Geneva. It leads to a series of a postal boxes.
One of those boxes was the only publicly published address used by one of Langston’s parent companies when it made a significant investment in an American IT firm called Limelight.
The only named representative
The only man Cardiff City could identify at the time as being directly involved Langston is Philippe Tischhauser, a respected Swiss accountant.
He has an MBA, is a director of several companies and is a leading member of Geneva’s Chamber of Commerce.
When WalesOnline rang him in 2007, he refused to comment on anything to do with Langston, saying: “I cannot say anything about this project.”
This Swiss accountant has a history with Cardiff City going back to at least 2002.
Cardiff City fans recall a players’ function at the Angel Hotel, Cardiff, at which they were introduced to a Swiss banker called Philippe, who Sam Hammam said was a prospective investor in Cardiff City.
Supporter Vince Alm said at the time: “I remember being introduced to him, although we didn’t chat. Sam said he was a Swiss banker and a potential investor in Cardiff City.”
Former City chairman Peter Ridsdale confirmed to us at the time that he too had met Mr Tischhauser several times.
He said: “I have met Philippe Tischhauser three times, twice at Ninian Park and once in London with Sam.
“He is not a part of Langston. He is an intermediary, but he is our only contact with Langston.”
Panama in 2004
Langston's own story starts at the same time the loan was made to the club for £24m in September 2004.
The name Langston was only registered in Panama just days before those loan notes were made.
Panama has been growing in popularity as an offshore banking centre since former dictator Manuel Noriega was deposed nearly 20 years ago.
The Central American state does not require companies to file accounts or list shareholders but it does ask they register three directors, in this case three companies named Miakunal, Matabor and Mardeco.
And that is what enabled us to trace the story of Langston back five years further.
The British Virgin Islands in 1999
The tactic of setting up separate companies for investments is one that Langston's backers appear to have used more than once.
The Langston story begins on January 12, 1999, when three companies were registered in the British Virgin Islands, another offshore banking centre.
All of the companies – Miakunal, Matabor and Mardeco – do not list any directors.
The only information they are registered with is a representative.
For all three firms, the representative is the same British Virgin Islands based company McNamara Corporate Services.
One further step in the paper trail
Very little else is known about these three firms, except for one investment in which Miakunal was involved in the United States.
Through another British Virgin Islands-registered company called Amalia, of which it is a director, Miakunal made a significant investment in an American IT company called Limelight.
It was in doing this deal, that a man called Pierre Grandjean and a woman Marie-Helene Lanjard listed their names as representatives of Miakunal and gave their address as their postal box in Geneva pictured at the top of the story.
Pierre Grandjean was, in 1995, sub-director of the Luxembourg branch of 200-year-old Swiss bank Pictet & Cie, the same bank that was later involved in correspondence with Cardiff City saying it had carried out due diligence on Langston.
A windfall in 1999?
This is just a hypothesis, but the most obvious conclusion is that someone, or some people, who came into some money in 1998 or early 1999 set up the three British Virgin Islands firms as offshore holding vehicles in January 1999 and have been investing it through other companies ever since.
When we carried out our investigations in 2007, Sam Hammam had publicly denied being involved with Langston in any other way than as a mediator with Cardiff City.
He refused to comment on our investigation into Langston at the time, saying simply: “We don’t need to talk about this.”
Finally, as part of the litigation process that led to the Langston loan notes being resolved, he did need to talk about it, as Capital Law, the Bluebirds' solicitors, revealed on Monday.
Senior Partner Chris Nott said: "The key to moving things on was finally getting Mr Hammam to admit that he was in fact Langston.
"That was the major factor from the club's perspective anyway."
Re: The complex paper trail that kept Sam Hammam's identity
Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:38 pm
"Who or what is Langston - the mysterious Panama-based firm whose loan of £24m to the club in 2004 during the chairmanship of Sam Hammam had taken the club to the High Court and the brink of administration several times."
Sam must have been shitting himself when the mysterious Langston tried to put him, as chairman of Cardiff City, into administration.
Sam must have been shitting himself when the mysterious Langston tried to put him, as chairman of Cardiff City, into administration.
Re: COMPLEX TRAIL KEPT SAM'S SECRET FOR 12 YEARS
Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:34 pm
I was wonder if the blind will continue their denial.....
We all know who they are (plus the Hammer they wheel out occasionally!)
Lol
We all know who they are (plus the Hammer they wheel out occasionally!)
Lol
Re: COMPLEX TRAIL KEPT SAM'S SECRET FOR 12 YEARS
Wed Feb 03, 2016 9:14 pm
I see this never made it to the grand heights of stickiness.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/2016/02/0 ... r-dispute/
It would go nicely side by side with Bluebird1977's recent and immediate sticky post concerning Sam and Langston.
You know a sort of unbiased, both side of the argument thing.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/2016/02/0 ... r-dispute/
It would go nicely side by side with Bluebird1977's recent and immediate sticky post concerning Sam and Langston.
You know a sort of unbiased, both side of the argument thing.
Re: COMPLEX TRAIL KEPT SAM'S SECRET FOR 12 YEARS
Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:11 am
Wayne S wrote:I see this never made it to the grand heights of stickiness.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/2016/02/0 ... r-dispute/
It would go nicely side by side with Bluebird1977's recent and immediate sticky post concerning Sam and Langston.
You know a sort of unbiased, both side of the argument thing.
Laughable.
We've got stickies on fans at Oxford v Millwall and Man City v Everton but a long article like this on the club doesn't get a sticky?
I guarantee if it was article about Tan it would be a sticky.
Guess it doesn't suit the agenda
Re: COMPLEX TRAIL KEPT SAM'S SECRET FOR 12 YEARS
Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:57 am
it would of got a battering so I'm glad he didn't ,he knows it's Sam Langstonpolo wrote:Wayne S wrote:I see this never made it to the grand heights of stickiness.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/2016/02/0 ... r-dispute/
It would go nicely side by side with Bluebird1977's recent and immediate sticky post concerning Sam and Langston.
You know a sort of unbiased, both side of the argument thing.
Laughable.
We've got stickies on fans at Oxford v Millwall and Man City v Everton but a long article like this on the club doesn't get a sticky?
I guarantee if it was article about Tan it would be a sticky.
Guess it doesn't suit the agenda
Re: COMPLEX TRAIL KEPT SAM'S SECRET FOR 12 YEARS
Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:12 pm
Interesting information - still doesn't add up why the secrecy after so many years
PS There has never been any correspondence from anyone in the mods not to post a topic to a Sticky its down to any mod to change that status
PS There has never been any correspondence from anyone in the mods not to post a topic to a Sticky its down to any mod to change that status