Northampton Town: 'Missing millions' director's wife faces legal action

Liquidators are suing the wife of a man at the centre of a failed football stadium development in which millions of pounds of public money disappeared.

Mandy Grossman is facing action following the collapse of 1st Land Ltd which was set up to rebuild Northampton Town's ground.

Deloitte, acting on behalf of creditors, is seeking £837,000 from her and two unrelated companies.

Mrs Grossman, from Bushey, did not respond to a request for comment.

1st Land Ltd went bust after receiving the bulk of a £10.25m loan paid out by Northampton Borough Council to the football club.

The money remains largely unaccounted for and the police are currently liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service following a lengthy inquiry.

1st Land's sole director and husband of Mrs Grossman, property developer Howard Grossman, was banned from running companies for 10 years in 2019 over his conduct.

The insolvency service said he had "blatantly disregarded" his duties by failing to provide accounting records to explain more than £5m missing from the football club loan.

Documents lodged at Companies House by Deloitte reveal the litigation currently under way.

They disclose proceedings have also been issued against a Stevenage based company, Synergy Property Design Consultants, and a London law firm, ORG Stock Denton.

Synergy refused to comment, while ORG Stock Denton said it was "aware of allegations made against it by the liquidators of 1st Land Limited, which it strongly rejects and is defending vigorously".

The precise nature of the allegations is unclear as Deloitte would not comment further, but the action implies it is seeking to recover payments allegedly made by 1st Land Ltd.

In the liquidator's most recent update, Deloitte says it continues to investigate the affairs of 1st Land Ltd and that is has lodged a litigation claim against Mrs Grossman, Synergy and ORG Stock Denton.

In addition, Deloitte says it has "assigned the right" to pursue a claim against another individual, Daniel Glicksman, who was a manager at Barclays at the time 1st Land went into administration in 2015.

Mr Glicksman did not respond to a request for comment.

1st Land was established to receive and distribute monies drawn down by the football club under the loans provided by the council, to rebuild and refurbish parts of the Sixfields stadium.

High Court documents indicate the company received £7.25m, but the latest statement from the joint liquidators suggests only £13,000 has been recovered to date.

Another company controlled by Mr Grossman, County Oundle Ltd, received the first tranche of loan money given to the club in September 2013, amounting to £1.5m.

At the time, Northampton Town was owned by father and son Anthony and David Cardoza, who subsequently sold the club in November 2015 after the council declared it was in default of the loan.

Mr Grossman has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Northampton Borough Council did not provide comment on the latest developments when asked by the BBC.