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Sports chief kills himself as missing trader loses £13m
Ross Lydall and Felix Allen21.10.09
A basketball manager hanged himself after investments linked to a London financier left him £12million in debt.
Moni Fanan, one of Israel's best-known sporting figures, had invested vast sums of his own cash and money from his players with City financier Nicholas Levene, known as "Beano".
But pressure on Mr Fanan, 63, the former general manager of Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv, is thought to have increased when players began demanding money back.
He was found dead by his wife in the shower of their home in Israel on Monday. Reports have now linked him to Mr Levene, a 45-year-old trader from High Barnet who went missing after being declared bankrupt and has since been reported to be having treatment at the Priory rehab clinic.
Mr Fanan managed the basketball club for 16 years, winning 15 titles before stepping down last year. Friends said he boasted of deals with Mr Levene, who went to Israel several times.
"A lot of people at the funeral gave their money to Moni Fanan," a senior players' agent said at the service yesterday. A lawyer with knowledge of Mr Fanan's dealings said: "At some point, Moni became Levene's money channel in Israel. Moni didn't hang himself because of debts to one player or another. Things turned bad for Moni when he started dealing with heavy sums. By the time he really got in trouble, other people were involved."
Investigators at the Serious Fraud Office were considering today whether to launch a full inquiry into the activities of Mr Levene. Yesterday it emerged that the trader had quit the board of Leyton Orient football club. He previously had his assets frozen by the High Court after failing to return around £70million in profits to investors.
His clients included a number of high-profile business people, including Richard Caring, owner of The Ivy and Le Caprice restaurants, and Stagecoach bus company founders Brian Souter and his sister Ann Gloag, who Mr Levene is believed to owe £18million.
Scotland Yard began examining evidence against Mr Levene last week. They have now passed their initial findings to the Serious Fraud Office.
Mr Levene, a derivatives expert, has not responded to a series of High Court writs demanding repayment of gambling debts and trading profits. He told Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn of his decision to stand down as vice-chairman in a telephone call.
Mr Levene worked for MG Equity Partners, based in Berkeley Square. Insolvency experts at Deloitte are gathering information to try to pinpoint exactly how much Mr Levene may owe and what assets he has.
Reader views (7)
Jim
Sorry but you are typical of the “blame others” attitude of many whose investments have not turned out how they wanted.
How about you go and READ the policy document YOU SIGNED when you bought your pension policy. It will say that investments can go down, as well as up.
You wanted a fat return, so you signed up to risk. It didn’t pay off. Sad but that's life.
Maybe you should have stuffed it in the mattress and been happy with what you had, if you didn't want to risk losing anything?
- Tony The Trader, Canary Wharf
It´s all down to one word, isn´t it? Greed!
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
Well, James, City of London, what an imbecile you appear to be. If you are truly from the "City" you represent your uncaring fellows very well. Gambling? How do I "walk away" from a pension that I have paid into all my working life?
Tell me how do you explain a pension pot being valued at £200,000 in 1998 now being worth less than that?
How do you explain a representative of Equitable Life (maybe someone like you) telling me in 1998 that, even if I didn't pay any more in, I would receive a pension income of more than £40,000 a year in 2010 when I'm now told it will be less than £10,000?
I didn't know I was gambling. As far as I was aware my money was safely held by a reputable company.
Last question - how do you sleep at night?
- Jim, London, UK.
'Mr Levene, a derivatives expert,....'.
Or maybe not.
- Mdj E10, london uk
I own 1100 shares of Oracle.
It is a very large U.S. software company.
I bought it in the tech crash.
I think 7 or 8 years ago.
The value of the stock is about 23 dollars ,which is roughly what i paid for it.
I just received my dividend.
For an investment of roughly 25,000 dollars i got 28 US Dollars after some US Taxes.
Larry Ellison who is the Chairman of the company got a total compensation package last year of 560 million dollars.
I am not complaining about this or blaming anyone.
I am happy to accept responsibility for my decisions.
However if you buy stocks and shares you are not investing.
You are betting that at some point someone will pay you more for that asset.
And that is what i is , betting.
So dont invest with Mr Ellison because i did and he has made me look a fool.
At least i am stupid enough to know i was not investing i was punting.
- Podonnell, Peurto Banus
in the rescent financial crises its not easy to survive, specially when you are in losses, so it is better for a person to plan its expenses by comparison with the expenditure, so to spend a life without any fear or financial threat.
- M K Lodhi, essex
Never ever gamble, yes investment is gambling, with money that you cannot afford to loose.
Whilst this story is sad it is also a warning to all of you smaller scale investors. If you take out a loan on a 'buy to let' or borrow and use your savings to buy shares or other investments can you walk away from those investments as though they never existed?
If the answer is yes you are a sensible investor if the answer is no then you are living beyond your means and your life will be stressful and complex. Importantly your life will be controlled by the whims of others, if you thrive in that atmosphere fine, just remember that when it all goes wrong, and inevitably for the greedy they stay to long in an investment and it does go wrong, then you only have yourselves to blame. Don't bleat to others about your misfortune !
- James, City of London
