Plymouth Raiders owe £800k as liquidation investigated

Image: BBL.org.uk

Plymouth Raiders, the now defunct former BBL team, are the focus of an investigation after their demise has left debts of over £800,000, which are likely to remain unpaid.

The club, who were supported by a company with links to billionaire entrepreneur Enver Yücel, pulled out of the BBL in 2021. This left a gap in the Plymouth basketball scene, which new — and completely separate — team, Plymouth City Patriots, have filled impressively.

Liquidators (the company responsible for collecting assets after a company winds up) have only been able to collect £396 from debtors, and £1,358 from the company’s bank accounts. However, they are confident that they’ll be able to recover an extra £166,632, with a further £698,133 from other claims. The liquidators have also filed a report to the Department for Business about the company’s conduct.

Sport England have asked liquidators to get to the bottom of how a £72,409 loan had been used by the club, which will be completed once full bank records are made available.

Some more claims against the Plymouth Raiders are as follows:

• £12,949 in redundancy claims

• £12,273 in pension liabilities

• Five ex-Raiders employees owed £4,750

• £7,633 claimed by Plymouth Pavilions, the Raiders’ former home venue and current home of the Patriots

• £154,396 claim from former director Richard Mollard, and £5,000 from Ross Mackenzie, another former director

• £161,882 in unpaid taxes

• £227,403 claim by MLA College Sports Ltd, which took overall control of Raiders in February 2020

Raiders went into liquidation less than 18-months after they were taken over and was actually owed £32,000 by the BBL itself, they still owed the league £93,450 in franchise fees. This is likely not to be collected by liquidators.

Basketball assets like nets, scoreboard, clocks and advertising boards were sold to Plymouth City Patriots for £500 (plus VAT) before liquidators were appointed. The Patriots have since ensured basketball has a home in Plymouth.

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