Bin Laden ties with newly promoted Premier League club revealed
Premier League new boys Sheffield United received funding from the influential Saudi family of Osama Bin Laden, a court in the UK has heard.
Newly promoted Premier League club Sheffield United received a £3 million loan from the family of Osama Bin Laden.
The revelation emerged during a court case in the UK, where Sheffield United co-owners Kevin McCabe and Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud are battling for control of the club following the break down of the pair's relationship two years ago.
During the fourth day of the hearing on Thursday, Prince Abdullah’s lawyer Andreas Gledhill, brought the £3 million loan to the court’s attention, arguing that Mr. McCabe was fully aware that the loan had come from the Bin Laden family, local newspaper the Sheffield Star reported.
McCabe denies he knew money came from Bin Ladens
Mr. Gledhill showed the court an email exchange between McCabe and club director Jeremy Tutton, in which Mr.Tutton said he feared seeing newspaper headlines claiming the club “launders money for extremists”.
The email exchange, Mr Gledhill argued, was evidence that Mr. McCabe knew where the loan had come from. However, Mr. McCabe denied this, claiming that the exchange was just “banter”.
Amid the battle for control of the club between Mr. McCabe and Prince Abdullah (who each hold a 50-percent stake), Sheffield United finished second in the England’s second tier division, The Championship, to secure their place in the Premier League next season after a 12-year hiatus from the top flight.