As Josh Wander and 777 Partners continue to wait on Premier League approval for their proposed takeover of Everton, new legal papers filed in Florida reveal Russian oligarch Oleg Boyko is seeking a restraining order against them in a case referencing the club.
By Paul Brown and Philippe Auclair
Josimar told last week how investment firm 777 Partners’ first foray into football club ownership was funded by a loan from Russian oligarch Oleg Boyko via his company Nakula Management Limited.
That loan is now the subject of a bitter and colourful legal dispute between the parties. On 14 March, Nakula filed a lawsuit in Miami which seeks not just “emergency injunctive relief” but a “restraining order to preclude any sale or transfer of assets” held by either 777 Partners or Wander himself – including any real estate assets in Florida, where both are based.
One day later, 777 Partners filed a strongly-worded legal response before the same court, moving “to strike the petition as a sham pleading… intended to threaten 777 Partners with negative media coverage at a delicate stage in 777 Partners’ pending acquisition of the Premier League football (soccer) club, Everton FC…”
In incendiary language, the 777 Partners motion to strike describes the legal action as “a transparent publicity stunt”, and after stressing several times its persistent claim to have 10 billion dollars of assets under management, it adds that if the court were to fail to strike Nakula’s petition and instead grant them an injunction, it should require them “to post a 10 billion dollar bond” to “protect” the defendants “when it is later adjudicated ...
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