MSI does the Laundry

By: Jan | July 13th, 2007

Money Media Sports Investments or short MSI has its own website. Very compact, down to the point, low on graphics and low on information. What you can learn about them is the following:

Media Sports Investements is a London based international investment fund. Led by Iranian business man Kia Joorabchain, MSI has a number of investors mainly based in Britain and Russia.

This investment fund now has run into some legal trouble as a Brazilian federal court has ordered to arrest Kia Joorabchain on charges of alleged money laundering. The court also ordered Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and several directors of the Brazilian football team Corinthians to be detained as well. According to the slightly more informative Wikipedia article about MSI Berezovesky is rumoured to be involved with the fund behind the scenes. Corinthians had been taken over by MSI back in 2004. The club started an unprecedented spending spree breaking transfer records for a South American team shortly afterwards. Among others they bought Tevez, Mascherano, Carlos Alberto and Nilmar for $32,5m. These investments were met with scepticism and suspicion by the Brazilian press. According to the charges by the Brazlian court the money supposedly came from illegal business activities by Berezovsky.

The first European club to make business with MSI was Lyon who sold Nilmar to Corinthians. Bruno over at the Brazil Offside reported about a possible plot by MSI to con Lyon. The case has recently been ruled in Lyon’s favour and Inara has written a post chronicling the whole saga.

Next up were Tevez and Mascherano. Here is a summary of what happened (I hope I didn’t miss out on some important plot points)

Mascherano and Tevez are transfered to West Ham on a last minute deal. Bigger clubs like Manchester or Arsenal were reportedly interested. Those club’s were unwilling to do business with MSI after being told that they would effectively have no control over players who would then be sold at a moment entirely of MSI’s choosing. All the profits would then be recouped by MSI.
MSI plans to take over West Ham but fails following disagreements over the valuation of the club.
The English FA investigates the shady background of the Tevez and Mascherano transfers and fines West Ham £5.5m and orders the club to cancel all third party agreements regarding the players ownership.
Sheffield United and other relegation bound clubs try to take the case to court hoping to push through a point deduction for West Ham.
West Ham escapes relegation also thanks to Tevez’s match deciding performances.
The English FA threatens to block a transfer of Tevez to Manchester United should they have doubts that the transfer fee doesn’t go to West Ham alone.

Finally the Bundesliga enters the MSI crime soap opera. Bremen and Hamburg both wanted to get their hands on Carlos Alberto. Just a loan deal for a start. The transfer started to become more complicated. Hamburg had reached an agreement with MSI over the loan deal. Bremen had reached an agreement with Carlos Alberto and the club. Bremen then bullied Hamburg out of the transfer by putting a buying offer of €7,5m – €8m on the table. Carlos Alberto arrived in Bremen, passed the medical check and was expected to be officially presented in a matter of days.

Then MSI asked for more money for Alberto. Some Russian clubs were reportedly in the race now, who were willing to pay a higher transfer fee. At that point the money laundering accusations from the Brazilian court popped up and changed everything once again.

I have no clue what the ownership status of Carlos Alberto will be like while MSI is taken to court or if they are ruled guilty or ___ . It all looks like an awfully complicated mess now and I wonder whether there is a realistic chance that Bremen can sign Alberto for the new season or whether they should probably just back out of the whole deal.

Update 1: Now Corinthians has also been accused of fixing matches. More on the Brazil Offside.

Update 2: Carlos Alberto joins Bremen for €8m. Now we can watch how the hole MSI thing breaks apart from a comfortable distance, or not…