777 founder admits fraud behind football investment empire

Josh Wander, co-founder of former prospective Everton buyers 777 Partners, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and securities fraud in a case exposing how money obtained from lenders and investors helped finance the group’s football acquisitions.The 45-year-old entered his plea in Manhattan federal court and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 1, 2027, with each charge carrying a maximum prison term of 20 years.Wander told US District Judge J. Paul Oetken: “At the time that I did these things I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I am deeply sorry for my conduct.”He admitted borrowing money in 2021 and 2022 using figures that overstated assets, during the period when Miami-based 777 was building its international network of clubs.Prosecutors said the scheme involved pledging assets more than once, offering fictitious collateral, falsifying bank statements and misrepresenting the company’s financial condition to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars.US Attorney Jamie McDonald said: “As he has now admitted, Josh Wander used his company, 777 Partners, to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from private creditors and investors.“Wander double-pledged assets, pledged fictitious assets, lied about the financial condition of his company, and even falsified bank statements, all to gain access to his victims’ funds.“He then put those funds to uses that his lenders never permitted, including footing the bill for 777’s collection of professional soccer teams.”The statement directly connects the financing misconduct with expenditure on the group’s football holdings, rather than treating the criminal case as separate from its expansion into the sport.777 began acquiring controlling interests in clubs in 2021, targeting a market in which many teams were recovering from the financial impact of matches played without spectators during the pandemic.Its portfolio included interests in Hertha Berlin, Genoa, Standard Liège, Red Star and Vasco da Gama, alongside minority stakes in Sevilla and Melbourne Victory.The group’s attempted acquisition of Everton would have added a Premier League club to that network, but the transaction collapsed in June 2024 after a prolonged process.777 had agreed to buy the club nine months earlier, before mounting lawsuits and questions about its finances undermined the proposed takeover.Wander’s plea gives the subsequent scrutiny of the group’s funding a criminal dimension, with his admissions concerning the assets and financial information used to secure borrowing.The case also highlights a distinct risk within multi-club investment structures: clubs in different jurisdictions can depend on the financial credibility of the same parent organisation and its access to external capital.That exposure sits alongside the competition-integrity concerns associated with common ownership, including how connected clubs participate in competitions and trade players.Damien Alfalla, 777’s former chief financial officer, has already pleaded guilty, while Wander remains free on bail pending sentencing.