Football Agent Mendes Planned To Use Irish Company To Buy Players, Prospectus Shows

Football agent Jorge Mendes "planned to use an Irish company to buy stakes in Spanish and Portuguese footballers," according to Nick Webb of the IRISH INDEPENDENT. Mendes worked on a proposal to raise up to €85M ($108M) from investors to buy "economic rights" in players. An investor prospectus for the '12 scheme "showed that a Jersey fund was to raise money from investors and lend the money to an Irish company called Quality Football Ireland IV, which would be used to buy the player rights." Quality Football Ireland IV has a "registered address in an accountancy firm on Dublin's Clanwilliam Square" (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 9/28).