Alastair’s Campbell’s son Rory is facing legal action over an alleged £5 million loss from a failed football betting syndicate, according to reports. The former Downing Street communications chief and his wife, Fiona, are said to be among 50 people who have lost money investing in the syndicate.
The syndicate bet on the Premier League and other European football leagues using mathematical models that assessed the effect of factors such as injuries and the weather, the newspaper reported. More than 50 people have allegedly invested between £10,000 and £500,000 each in the past five years.
However, the Mail on Sunday report that Rory Campbell’s lawyers informed investors that the syndicate had collapsed as bookmakers in Asia had failed to pay their debts. One syndicate member who is reportedly facing losses of over £150,000 told the Mail: “We are all absolutely furious.”.
Labour peer Lord Falconer is reported to have held meetings to “calm tempers” with syndicate members shortly before Christmas. A spokesperson for Rory Campbell told the Mail on Sunday: “You appear to have been given an incomplete and in several respects inaccurate account of a highly complex set of issues, which are currently the subject of what we had understood to be confidential negotiations intended to seek a resolution between the various parties.
