*** Former Premier League footballers among dozens 'conned' in £50million luxury apartments scandal in UAE | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Former Premier League footballers among dozens 'conned' in £50million luxury apartments scandal in UAE

London

Former Premier League footballers are among scores of British investors who lost millions of pounds to a fraudulent developer in the UAE.

Ex-Liverpool star David Thompson was among the victims as he almost lost £300,000 after handing over cash for luxury seaview apartments to a developer, who was supposed to oversee the building of the properties.

Iranian developer Frank Khoie defaulted on the deal, despite hundreds of international buyers putting down millions of pounds in deposits.

He was jailed in 2009 after a £9.5million cheque to purchase land for the La Hoya development - set on the man-made island of Al Marjan on UAE’s northern coast - bounced.

He was released after just a year but no building has taken place since and there is no word on any money being returned to investors.

Thompson, 37, who was twice selected for the England squad in a career that also saw him play for Liverpool, Blackburn, Coventry, lost nearly £300,000 and said he was ‘completely scammed’.

He reportedly said: ‘It started out as the perfect investment but after I put down the money everything went into a hole. I haven’t heard anything since.

‘Khoie had a big reputation and it seemed legitimate, but it all seems like a con now.

 

‘I invested £290,000 for 30 per cent of five apartments. I was going to sell three and buy the other two outright, using one as a holiday home and one for rental for income.

‘It’s left me with a sour taste in my mouth. You don’t mind as much losing money in a bad investment if it was a poor business decision but to be completely scammed is something else.’

 

Father-of-two Thompson, who quit football because of injury, had previous experience of investing in the Middle East, as well as in Liverpool and Manchester, not far from his Cheshire home.

He added: ‘The pressure of losing a huge fortune had an adverse affect - as it would anyone - and it could have affected my marriage.

‘The loss came at a time when I was ending my career prematurely to injury, which could have cost me £7million or £8million in earnings. That affected my mental state and put pressure on me.

 

‘You hear about footballers finding it difficult to get used to normal life and it got to me. It’s not like we have our bums wiped for us, but you’re used to a fast-paced, exciting life and slowing down can be a bit mundane.’

Two former Newcastle United players are also understood to have lost out in the collapsed investment.

Meanwhile engineer Shahzad Khan, 48, lost £20,000 after being convinced to invest while at a property show in Dubai.

He was offered a discount if he paid up front for a 40 per cent deposit on an apartment.

Mr Khan, who lives with his wife Nasim and their two autistic children in Slough, Berkshire, said: 'I kept the receipts, I kept the paperwork, I kept everything - but I've heard nothing.

‘It was hard for me and my family. My children have special needs and I am the sole breadwinner for my family so I can't go and fight this in UAE. I feel like I've been robbed.

'We were not business-minded people. We were won over by agents in suits, charming us.’

MailOnline reported last year that a landmark legal victory by international legal services company Judicare Group cancelled sales agreements and ordered that deposits were repaid, but Britons have heard nothing from Khoie.

When Richard and Marilyn Chandler invested £30,000 in a luxury second-floor apartment at the La Hoya development in 2008, they thought they had set themselves up for a comfortable retirement.

The pair, who are now in their late sixties, wanted a place in Middle East to be nearer to their son, who lives in Dubai, so they and other other family and friends could visit .

The pair now live in Ramsgate, Kent - a far cry from their Middle Eastern dream.

 

Mr Chandler, who was a tiler before he retired, said: 'It was supposed to be nice and secluded with a great view - it would've been perfect.

‘We were going to pop out and use it as an investment and later roll it over and pay for the rest of our retirement.

'We are gutted. Everything seemed so legitimate. For that amount of people to lose so much money, it's just unthinkable.

'Some have paid more than £100,000 and some bought more than one property.

 

'The £30,000 was there and now it's gone. We didn't stop talking about it for so long.

'It's difficult to put into words. We're gutted this so-called gentleman has lost us £30,000.'

Geoff Land, from Birmingham, planned on moving to La Hoya Bay with his wife, Alika, and children.

However after paying around £100,000 of their hard-earned money to Khoie, it became clear that the properties were not being built.

Mr Land, an IT consultant, was forced to start working in Saudi Arabia for four years because of the failed property deal, flying in from UAE on Mondays and only seeing his family at weekends.

Speaking last year, he said: 'The flat has never been built. We were planning to stay there as a family.

'It would have been a dream place in many ways, business was good, it is not far from Dubai, the lifestyle is super, it doesn't drop below 18 degrees in winter.

'It was on the coast with mountains behind it. It is a great place to bring up kids right by the beach. Home to work would have been a short walk across the Plaza. It was a dream which was shattered.

I met Khoie several times. He was very gracious in the way he spoke to you, never aggressive. But the guy is just a shyster,' he claimed.

‘He has taken a lot of money from a lot of people, and he is still trying to do what he can to frustrate the legal system by stringing things out as long as he can.

'We have not got anything out of this yet, nothing is guaranteed. There is a mortgage on the land and it is protected until it is paid off. We are trying to unpick the legal process to get it sold off at auction.

'Looking back, Frank Khoie was selling a pyramid scheme. He has tainted the whole idyllic dream we once had of living in the UAE and we've had to completely change our life plans.’