Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley was yesterday ordered to pay £3.4m to a Greek shipping magnate by April 22 — or he can petition the court for a bankruptcy order.
Staveley, 50, who helped orchestrate the Saudi Arabia-backed consortium that purchased Newcastle United for £300m in 2021, had applied to the High Court to throw out the application made by Victor Restis.
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However, in his two-hour ruling on Monday, judge Daniel Schaffer rejected her bid on every count and said she must pay back the money in full within 21 days. Staveley did not attend court in person on Monday. Immediately after the judgment, she said she intended to appeal against the decision.
Here, The Athletic explains what happened in court, the background to the case and what the verdict means for Staveley and Newcastle United.
Elsewhere on The Athletic…
- How the bid to be English football’s first black owner unravelled
- The $25m fraudster who came so close to buying an English club
What was the case about?
The court previously heard it was “common ground” that Restis, 55, agreed in September 2008 to provide a £10m investment in Staveley’s business ventures, but there was “some ambiguity” about whether this was a loan or some other form of investment. Staveley claimed the money was to bid for property company Trillium. By 2014, just over £6m had been repaid, leaving the outstanding payment of £3.4m.
Restis initially issued a statutory demand in May 2023 for a total of £36.8million. This included the aforementioned £3.4m sum from the original £10m loan, £2.1m in legal costs and expenses and finally £31.3m in interest. However, the claims for the interest and legal costs were later dropped.
Staveley’s lawyer, Ted Loveday, had argued the dispute should be resolved through arbitration (i.e. out of court) and claimed agreements over the loan repayment were secured by duress, undue influence and misrepresentation.
Staveley had claimed she was left “worried for the safety of herself and her family” when Restis’ lawyer warned her the shipping magnate was “not a man to be messed with, that he was dangerous”. Staveley had previously described Restis’ bankruptcy petition as an “abuse of process”.
However, judge Schaffer dismissed all of those claims.
Why did the judge find against Staveley?
He said Staveley’s liability was “proved conclusively” in the documents and that it “beggars belief” she did not understand she was liable, adding the claim “ventures into the realm of fantasy and is completely implausible”. The judge added there was “no evidence” Staveley was under duress from Restis or his lawyers and there was a “complete lack of credibility” to her assertions on this point.
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He added: “There were clearly commercial pressures on Ms Staveley, but Mr Restis was perfectly entitled to press for payment.”
The judge also cited the friendly correspondence between the pair in WhatsApp messages and emails — where Restis said “thank you for everything, you’re such a sweetheart” and her calling him “darling Victor” — as evidence of a “warm business relationship”.
Restis’ lawyers also pointed out that Staveley had invited him to a Newcastle United match.
Judge Schaffer also rejected Staveley’s suggestion that Restis had “exploited” her Huntington’s disease, a degenerative genetic disorder she inherited from her mother, Lynne, that she claimed impaired her thinking during negotiations. He also said her condition had stabilised by the time the 2021 agreements were reached.
In 2013, Restis spent four months in a Greek prison during an investigation of alleged money laundering and embezzlement in relation to loans made by his then-family-owned bank, First Business Bank. He was later acquitted of all charges. He was later sentenced to a 10-year suspended sentence for “using false statements” in a land deal.
Staveley queried whether Restis’ original £10m investment was legitimately sourced and whether repayment would inadvertently facilitate financial crime. However, the judge dismissed those claims as “wholly without merit” and being “used as a screen to avoid payment”.
Following Monday’s decision, a spokesperson for Staveley said: “Amanda Staveley notes the ruling of the High Court today on her application to have set aside a statutory demand brought by Victor Restis. Ms Staveley notes and welcomes that the ruling made a £33million reduction in the claim to principal only with no interest. Nevertheless, Ms Staveley continues to dispute personal liability and intends to lodge an appeal.”
What is Staveley’s role at Newcastle and beyond?
Staveley, a seasoned dealmaker, helped broker a £300m purchase of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund from Mike Ashley in 2021. As part of that deal, she also acquired a 10 per cent stake in the club with the help of a £30.5m loan from the British billionaire Reuben brothers and is on the club’s board of directors.
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A Companies House update earlier this year showed her stake has since been diluted to six per cent, with the Reuben brothers’ shares increasing.
The last set of club accounts, released in January this year, showed another of her companies and her main trading vehicle, Cantervale Ltd, received two separate payments of £312,500 and £625,000 from Newcastle, though the latter “will be refunded subsequent to the balance sheet date”.
She also received a £600,000 loan from the club “in respect of certain legal fees” on November 7, 2022. This came after she was granted a further loan of £659,056 from Newcastle on August 31 last year. These payments and loans were unanimously ratified by Newcastle’s board.
Staveley was the star of the polished We Are Newcastle United Amazon documentary and also recently helped secure a deal between golf’s PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV tour.
She also previously helped broker the £210m sale of Manchester City in 2008 to Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour.
What is a bankruptcy order and what would the consequences be?
A bankruptcy order is a court order that could be implemented if a party that owes money fails to repay a statutory demand — effectively a final warning — within 21 days of that demand being served. The order forces its subject to sell land or property, helping to recover the debt owed.
In this case, if Staveley does not repay Restis by April 22, there will be a further court hearing — known as a bankruptcy petition — where a judge will decide whether to invoke the order. At this hearing, an appeal can also be made to extend the time frame to raise the funds, or the case can be dismissed if it can be proved that the debt has been paid in full.
If an individual is declared bankrupt, their property and financial affairs are handed over to an ‘official receiver’, who will collect the assets before distributing the proceeds to the lender. The legal status of bankruptcy usually lasts for a year, with all non-essential assets and excess income gained during that period going to the creditor. At the end of that period, debts are usually cancelled.
Will this have any impact on her role at Newcastle United?
At this stage, no. Let’s run through the legal regulations.
Staveley is a Newcastle co-owner and minority shareholder, subject to the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test (OADT). At this stage, Staveley has merely been ordered to pay a debt — she is not subject to a bankruptcy order. If the debt is paid, there is no issue.
However, suppose an owner or director is declared bankrupt. In that case, that constitutes a ‘disqualifying event’ under Section F of the Premier League handbook — “being subject to insolvency proceedings (whether individually or as director of a company)” precludes stewardship.
That status, however, is still several court cases away. This is a civil dispute, not a criminal one, so no further aspect of the OADT is threatened. Similarly, a commercial dispute will not affect Staveley’s day-to-day role at Newcastle — she has been involved in numerous other court cases since completing the takeover of the club in October 2021.
What other court cases is Staveley involved in?
Last week it emerged that Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s former owner, was suing the club over claims they are refusing to supply Sports Direct with their kit. That hearing is expected to take place on April 9.
That comes amid a separate legal battle between Ashley and Staveley.
Ashley has sued Staveley over a £10m loan he provided her during the takeover process.
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Staveley repaid that loan on October 10, 2023, plus £600,000 interest. However, Ashley is still pursuing High Court action.
Ashley has claimed terms of the agreement were breached when Staveley made negative public statements about him following the takeover.
Meanwhile, Staveley has also launched a fresh legal fight against Barclays over the bank’s emergency Gulf bailout during the financial crash in 2008. She is now pursuing a new case against Barclays at the International Chamber of Commerce arbitration court in Paris. This started in late 2023 and could run until 2026.
She had sued Barclays after finding out it offered her client, Sheikh Mansour, a worse deal than it offered to Qatar when it was seeking billions of new investment in 2008. Staveley’s private equity firm PCP Capital had claimed £830m in damages.
She lost her 2021 High Court case even though a judge ruled Barclays acted with “deceit” and was not awarded any damages.
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(Top photo: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)