League Championship side Leeds United officials "were involved in a deal to cover up" a secret £250,000 payment to an unlicensed agent, the findings of an FA investigation disclosed, according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. The FA found that Graham Bean, a former policeman who was the FA’s first compliance officer, and former club Chair Massimo Cellino "were instrumental in setting up a sham scouting agreement to hide the payment" -- which breached FA rules -- surrounding forward Ross McCormack’s sale to Fulham in '14. Bean, who "turned whistleblower after being sacked by Cellino from his position with Leeds," later demanded £1,800 from the FA to "act as a witness and tried to retract his evidence after his claim for the money was refused." Cellino, who sold his remaining stake in Leeds in May, "was banned by the FA for 12 months last week" but Bean was not charged and continues to work in football as a "regulatory and governance expert." The ultimate recipient of the £250,000 was Barry Hughes, an unlicensed agent from Scotland "who has convictions for fraud, money-laundering and a nightclub attack." The findings of the regulatory commission state that Bean "was actively and knowingly instrumental in setting up the deceptive scouting agreement" and played an "unedifying" role in the matter. Bean, who denies breaching any rules, "was sacked by Cellino for unrelated matters just three days after the sham agreement was set up" and blew the whistle to the FA, whose investigator, Ian Ryder, "decided to use him as the key witness and not press charges against him" (LONDON TIMES, 11/3).
