Player liaison officer Tim De’Ath arranged for a man who called himself Mark Kingston to set up a stall at the football club’s training ground after being given his number by then team captain Kevin Nolan.
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West Ham United defender Aaron Cresswell believes that Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce will do well for England if he’s selected by The FA for the job.
Prosecutor Richard Milne said he arrived at the club “with all the trappings of a successful businessman”, driving a black Range Rover and sporting a silver watch, before tempting staff and players with heavily discounted hampers containing Belgian chocolates, Yorkshire crisps and champagne.
“In the run up to Christmas this defendant, say the Crown, came up with a ruse, a fraud, to be perpetrated against or on West Ham football club at their training ground and against employees of West Ham football club”.
“There was a bigger fish to fry”.
Ms Taylor kept hold of his bank card and PIN and was able to put through the payment.
“He took in some cases cash, in many cases their bank cards”.
Potential England manager Sam Allardyce was fleeced of more than £13,000 by a “good salesman”, after ordering Champagne and fine wine in a scam aimed at West Ham staff and players.
“These players, management, employees paid up and they never got their goods, their champagne and their hampers”.
The former Leyton Orient boss said he paid £920 for two Harrods hampers and 25 bottles of champagne from a salesman who was in his mid-40s, had dark hair, and wore a grey flat cap.
Ackerman, from Hillcroft, denies 13 counts of fraud by misrepresentation and one count of possessing a chip and pin reading device to use in fraud on December 12, 2014.
In cross-examination, when asked by defence counsel Michael Gumulka if he had “mixed up” the name of the man at the training ground, purporting to be Mr Kingston, with that of the defendant, Mr Allardyce replied: “May have done”. He is also accused of making “false representations to others namely that he or another were authorised to use a bank card of, and/or the name and bank card details” of five people to purchase goods and services.
A West Ham employee has told a court he was duped into inviting an alleged conman into the club to sell luxury goods and hampers which were never delivered.
The man was described by several witnesses as having an East End accent, while Mr Tomkins said he had a “wonky nose”. “Who was behind the subsequent fraud that started that day?”
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Others who appear to have been defrauded include Allardyce’s former assistant Neil McDonald, West Ham Head of Performance Analysis Jamie Osman and Head of Academy Technical and Recruitment Analyst Jamie Benson.
