Premier League
Former Crystal Palace Owner Textor Faces Court Battle Over Unpaid Deal
Former Crystal Palace owner, John Textor has suffered another setback after the UK commercial court ruled he must face a $97m (£72m) claim from an investor in his Eagle Football group.
The case was brought by Iconic Sport, which invested $75m three years ago for a 15.7% stake in the company.
Eagle was also the biggest shareholder at Palace until July, when Textor sold his 43% stake to the former US ambassador to the United Kingdom Woody Johnson.
Iconic Sport filed a lawsuit against John Textor in July, claiming he failed to honour an agreement to repurchase their $75m stake if Eagle Football was not listed on the stock exchange.
The investor is also seeking 11% annual interest on the amount. In response, Textor filed a countersuit in the United States, alleging he had been misled in the deal.
However, a Florida district court dismissed his case this week, ruling that the dispute should be heard in the UK.
In his defence, Textor claimed Iconic failed to hand over the paperwork required to complete the deal, most notably a stock transfer form and share certificate, and argued the obligation to buy them out was never triggered.
In a judgment published by the commercial court, Judge Pelling KC ruled in favour of Iconic on a preliminary issue.
A spokesperson for Iconic Sports said, “Today’s decision from the UK Commercial Court confirms unequivocally that John Textor knowingly violated contractual commitments and owes Iconic Sports approximately $97m excluding legal costs.
”Iconic intends to recover the funds that are rightfully owed, and will pursue all options, in any jurisdiction, to do so.”
Textor confirmed his intention to appeal.
“While this is a preliminary hearing, I am disappointed with the decision not to end this lawsuit at the outset. I intend to appeal.”
John Textor has faced a turbulent period since watching Crystal Palace win the FA Cup in May, marking the end of his four-year co-ownership of the club.
After selling his Palace stake, he also stepped down from Lyon’s board in June following the club’s relegation to Ligue 2 for financial rule breaches.
However, Eagle remains the club’s biggest shareholder and the club has since been reinstated in the top flight.
Since leaving Palace Textor has had talks with the Sheffield Wednesday owner, Dejphon Chansiri, about buying him out at Hillsborough, and has publicly confirmed his interest, but has yet to meet the asking price.
During the commercial court proceedings, Iconic raised doubts about John Textor’s ability to repay the alleged debt.
His source of funding for the proposed Wednesday takeover also remains uncertain.
A previous bid to buy Everton last year collapsed despite having entered exclusive talks with then-owner Farhad Moshiri.
