Four men sentenced to prison for Derby County fraud

Two former directors of Derby County and the club's ex-director of football were sent to prison today for fraudulently sharing £440,625 in secret commissions after they took over the club in 2003. A Monaco-based lawyer, David Lowe, was also jailed, for two years, after being convicted of money-laundering.

The jury at Northampton crown court had been told that following the takeover of Derby, when the heavily-indebted club was bought for just £3, Andrew Mackenzie, 55, the club's finance director, Jeremy Keith, 41, who became the new chief executive and Murdo Mackay, 53, then the director of football, had each been paid £125,000 plus VAT by the club, which was not approved by the board.

Mackenzie and Mackay were both sentenced to three years in prison, after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the club. Keith was sentenced to 18 months having been convicted of false accounting.

SOURCE: The Guardian