Partner Article

JJB Sports ex-chief exec guilty of £1 million fraud

Ex-chief executive of JJB Sports Christopher Ronnie has been convicted of accepting more than £1 million in backhanders.

Ronnie, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, was found guilty of pocketing payments from three suppliers while in charge of the sportswear firm in 2007 and 2008.

Wigan-based JJB Sports was dissolved with almost £150 million of debts in November.

He did not disclose the payments, used to buy property in Florida, to the board, and also reportedly owed £11 million to Icelandic Bank Kaupthing Singer Friedlander and falsified his loan and asset information.

Two of his business partners David Ball, 54, from Sutton, Surrey and David Barrington, 52, of Sale, Greater Manchester, were convicted of two counts of perverting the course of justice by helping Ronnie cover his tracks.

Ball and Barrington covered up a series of emails relating to the loans but when the pair asked a computer engineer to wipe any trace of the emails he contacted the Serious Fraud Office.

JJB Sports was founded by former professional footballer Dave Whelan in 1971.

Whelan sold up in 2007 and his shares in the firm were bought by Ronnie. He was chief executive at the firm until March 2009.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .