The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator "found misconduct in the organisation of a charity dinner and football match between Rangers Legends and AC Milan Glorie in March last year," according to the HERALD SCOTLAND. The foundation "agreed to forego most of its share of the proceeds in favour of The Rangers Football Club plc which entered administration the previous month." A report by the regulator found a "conflict of interest" in the close relationship between the charity trustees and the football club. The decision-making process "breached the trustees' duties, the inquiry concluded" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 8/6). In Edinburgh, Angus Howarth wrote the report "details the involvement of three trustees of the Foundation, all of whom were employed by, or held senior roles at Ibrox." One of the trustees told administrators Duff and Phelps of the club’s intention "to provide support for the dinner and the match," and according to the report, was "concerned that the administrators would block the match from going ahead if it was not in the club’s creditors’ interest." The trustee "agreed to hand over control of the match’s income to Duff and Phelps so that Rangers could recover costs." Prior to this decision, 60% of the net profit along with a £25,000 ($38,000) management fee "had been earmarked for the Rangers Charity Foundation," but the decision to hand control to the administrators led to the charity only receiving 10% of the profit -- less than £40,000 ($61,000) -- and the management fee. This meant more than £191,000 ($293,000) that had been intended as charity donations went to Duff and Phelps (SCOTSMAN, 8/6).
