Ex-Northampton Town owner has bankruptcy extended

Anthony Cardoza at the Birmingham High Court in 2018

A former football club owner at the centre of a scandal which saw millions of pounds go missing has had his bankruptcy restrictions extended.

Anthony Cardoza was Northampton Town's co-owner when it received a £10.25m loan from the town's borough council to redevelop its stadium.

The Official Receiver has had an application to ensure he can't run a company for seven years accepted.

The BBC was unable to contact Mr Cardoza for comment.

The £10.25m loan was intended to rebuild part of Northampton Town's stadium and develop nearby land.

But the work was not completed sparking a police investigation and borough council attempts to recoup the money.

In January 2019 Mr Cardoza was ordered by the High Court to repay £2.79m he received from the borough council loan.

He applied for his own bankruptcy the following April.

In a statement, the Official Receiver, Kevin Read, said Mr Cardoza had "approved funds to be transferred to himself" as a repayment of loans he had previously made to Northampton Town.

Mr Read said: "Anthony Cardoza abused his position when he diverted millions of pounds for his own benefit.

"To protect other lenders in the future and severely curtail his activities, Anthony Cardoza will have to comply with seven more years of bankruptcy restrictions.

"This is a significant amount of time and should serve as a stark warning to other directors to refrain from abusing funds intended for specific projects."

Northampton Town's East Stand remains unfinished following the original £10.25m for its redevelopment

On 10 August 2020, Mr Cardoza's seven-year Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking was accepted by the Secretary of State.

This was because of the size of Mr Cardoza's debts and the risk he posed to creditors, according to the Official Receiver.

Mr Cardoza's son David is the former chairman of Northampton Town and was also co-owner of the club.

In January 2019 the Insolvency Service also acted against another man connected to the failed redevelopment of the Sixfields Stadium.

Howard Grossman was banned from being a company director after he failed to ensure his company, 1st Land, maintained records.

1st Land went into administration then liquidation after it received more than £7m of the loan money.

Last week the BBC disclosed that Mr Grossman's wife Mandy was being sued by 1st Land's liquidators as part of efforts to recover the funds.