Fleetwood Town owner jailed for 13 years over £15m fraud

Andy Pilley, the owner and ex-chairman of Fleetwood Town, has been jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of fraud.

Per the BBC, the 53-year-old has been sent to prison for 13 years after a trading standards investigation found that he mis-sold gas and electricity contracts, and posted fake customer comments on websites.

He was convinced last month and, at the time, Pilley resigned from his position as chairman and director of Fleetwood, who are now in League One. The club finished 13th in last season.

At the time of sentencing, Judge Knowles KC said that a "salesforce of cold-calling liars and manipulators duped very large numbers of honest and decent proprietors" into "long and expensive contracts" for their gas and electric.

Pilley is said to have "devised and enforced an elaborate pretence that the sales team were independent of the supply companies". The contracts being sold added up to tens of millions of pounds.

Fleetwood issued a statement following the ruling, saying: "The club would like to reiterate convictions are against individuals and not Fleetwood Town FC, or any of the businesses associated with them, and will continue to operate as normal."

They also said that they "remain in communication with the EFL in relation to the implications of the convictions and will now be making an application to the League in relation to a change of control".

The club are currently preparing for the 2023/24 season and face Waterford in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday evening.