Leeds United owners remain unknown - Harvey

THE chief executive of Leeds United today told MPs he has no knowledge of the people behind the “mysterious trust” that owns the club - and that chairman Ken Bates does not know either.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Mar 2011, 17:14 BST

Leeds’ ownership structure came under the microscope at the culture, media and sport select committee’s inquiry into football governance at a hearing at Burnley FC today.

The club’s chief executive Shaun Harvey said Leeds is owned by a holding company called FSF, based in the West Indies island of Nevis and owned by three discretionary trusts. The trustees have appointed two men, Patrick Murrin and Peter Boatman, to run the club and they had asked Bates to be chairman.

Harvey told the committee: “I don’t know who the beneficiaries of this discretionary trust are, no.”

Asked if Bates knew, he replied: “Not to my knowledge.”

He added: “There is no individual [owner], that’s the nature of discretionary trusts - it’s a perfectly legal and much-used ownership structure in many different industries, not just football.”

For the full story read Wednesday’s Yorkshire Post.