Several leading athletes, including the Olympic gold medallist, Mark Lewis-Francis, hurdler Andy Turner and sprinter Abi Oyepitan, are believed to have concerns over a company that promises to match sports stars with lucrative sponsorship deals in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.
The Metropolitan Police has launched a fraud investigation into Global Sponsorship Group, a company based in Croydon, south London, which claims in its marketing material to have “an anticipated portfolio of over £35 million in sponsorship packages available from major FTSE 100 companies”.
A police spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that South Norwood police are investigating an allegation of fraud in relation to a sponsorship company based in Croydon.”
Athlete internet forums have recently been awash with allegations that the company asks some athletes to pay £500 up front before any sponsorship deal has been signed.
Leading British athlete Tasha Danvers, who won a bronze medal in the 400 metres hurdles at Beijing, posted a message on the Twitter website to urge other athletes with concerns to contact the police.
The company, which was launched last July, describes itself as an “online facilitator” that matches athletes with corporate sponsors, though its website has been off line since the weekend.
In November, Lewis-Francis said the company had promised to pay his medical and physiotherapy expenses after he was dropped from the Lottery programme.
“It’s nice just to know that someone out there has belief in me,” said Lewis-Francis, whose gold came in the 4 x 100m relay at Athens in 2004.
“This has definitely saved my career and given me a second chance to go out there and prove to the world that I’m still a decent sprinter.”
On Tuesday, Lewis-Francis said he was prevented from saying anything about Global Sponsorship on legal advice but confirmed that he was in dispute over his deal.
“Fortunately, I’ve got a good agent and a good coach looking after me,” he said. “UK Athletics have also been very helpful.”
Mark Cas, the chief executive of Global Sponsorship Group, said yesterday that it was untrue that athletes were asked to pay money in advance and that legal proceedings would be issued next week against “various people”.
“We sacked some staff and that has given rise to this whole thing,” he said.
“I will talk about it next week once proceedings have been issued against people. All I will say is that none of the athletes like Lewis-Francis were asked to front up any money.”
He added that the website was off line because back-end work was being carried out on it and that it would be running again today.
While Lewis-Francis, Turner and Oyepitan are Global Sponsorship’s most high-profile clients, other athletes are believed to include British No 3 hurdler Callum Priestley, promising triple-jumper Trevor Okoroafor, long-jumper Gary Wilson and heptathlete Lucy Boggis.
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