Richard Fagan (polo)

Richard Fagan
Personal information
Full nameRichard Joseph Fagan
National teamIreland
BornSeptember 1971 (age 54)[1]
Parent
  • Daphne Fagan (mother)
RelativePaul Fagan
Sport
CountryIreland
SportPolo
Team
  • Silex
  • Opel-Royal Salute
  • Badrutt's Palace Hotel
  • El Trebol
Updated on 23 July 2016

Richard Joseph Fagan (born September 1971) is a businessman who created the Kijani Commodity Fund in 2011, later embroiled in a $16bn Ponzi scheme probe.[2] Richard Fagan was fined £62m by Gibraltar’s Supreme Court for his role in defrauding investors through the Kijani Commodity and Ratio funds.[3]

Fagan is the former captain of the Irish international polo team and also plays for Silex, Opel-Royal Salute, Badrutt's Palace Hotel and El Trebol, among others.[4][5][6][7][8]

Early life

Fagan was born in September 1971. He headed a family automotive broker and motor repair chain (AFL Fleet Management).[9] In February 2006, he was a member of Los Griffos and won the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Arena Gold Cup. Fagan also won the Junior County Cup in 2006 with the Autodex polo team. He moved to Gibraltar in 2007 to work in the territory's investing industry.[9]

Business career

In 2011, Fagan started the Kijani Commodity Fund, which pitched investments to small commodity producers.[9] The fund — originally domiciled in Mauritius — managed more than $130 million in assets. In 2014, the Mauritius Financial Services Commission began investigating Belvedere Management Group, belonging to David Cosgrove, and suspended two of Belvedere's local fund vehicles, one of which housed Fagan's Kijani fund, over investors' concerns.[10] The Kijani Fund was seized by Cayman Island regulators in June 2015.[9][11][12][13] Fagan was alleged to have siphoned off £56.2m from Kijani Resources and £5.8m from Ratio into companies he and his associates controlled. Furthermore, the funds’ assets were found to be hugely overvalued; the liquidators were only able to recover £1m from the £136m in investments that had been reported.

The judge ordered Fagan to pay £56.2m to Kijani Resources and £5.8m to Ratio with an additional 8% annual interest in February.

Source https://investment-international.com/News/gibraltar-judge-fines-irish-polo-team-captain-62m-for-investment-fraud/

Polo career

By 2010, Fagan had won several international tournaments, including the XXXIX International Polo Tournament with Silex.[14] In June 2014, Silex won the XV edition of the Andrés Parladé tournament against Powder Byrne/Blueye in overtime.[15]

As captain of the Irish international polo team,[5] Fagan won the silver medal in the 2014 European Polo Championships in France at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games.[16][17] He accepted an Irish bog oak sculpture on behalf of the Irish team for winning the silver medal, which was presented by Horse Sport Ireland chairman Pat Wall and Federation of Irish Polo Clubs chairman James Kennedy.[18] The team competed in the Land Rover International Polo Tournament[19] and the XXXVI José Ignacio Domecq Memorial tournament at Santa María Polo Club.[4]

In 2015, Fagan and Team Badrutt's Palace Hotel competed in the Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz, placing third in the event.[20][21][22] As a member of Team Opel-Royal Salute, Fagan won the Silver Cup in Medium Goal at Land Rover International Polo Tournament.[23] He was selected to represent Ireland in the Snow Polo World Cup 2016.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Richard Joseph FAGAN - Personal Appointments (Free information from Companies House)".
  2. ^ Duo with Irish links at centre of $16bn Ponzi scheme probe Irish Independent Business section, 26 June 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  3. ^ Belvedere-owned Kijani funds go into liquidation. Archived 2 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine Katherine Denham, International Adviser, 30 June 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b Silex remains unbeatable. Santa María Polo Club Sotogrande, 1 April 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  5. ^ a b Team Cartier seal third triumph at St Moritz's Snow Polo World Cup. Gareth A Davies, The Daily Telegraph, 3 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Royal patronage has helped strengthen polo, says Guards Club chief on 60th anniversary". The Daily Telegraph. 12 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Polo in the heart of London". POLO+10. 18 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Silex brilla en el campeonato de España". La Voz Digital. 11 October 2013.
  9. ^ a b c d Investigation of Seized Hedge Fund Highlights Risks. Margot Patrick, The Wall Street Journal, 3 August 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Duo with Irish links at centre of $16bn 'Ponzi scheme' probe". 26 June 2016.
  11. ^ Corruption scandal hits senior politicians. David Pallister and Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, 15 November 2003. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  12. ^ EXPOSED: Belvedere Management's massive criminal enterprise. David Marchant, OffshoreAlert, 17 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  13. ^ Funds marketed in Hong Kong linked to Belvedere fraud probe. Benjamin Robertson, South China Morning Post, 6 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  14. ^ "Polo Quarterly". Polo Quarterly International. August 2010.
  15. ^ "Team Silex wins in overtime". POLO+10. 11 June 2014.
  16. ^ Ireland's Polo Team Play In European Championships On Saturday. The Irish Sports Council. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  17. ^ "Ireland's Polo Team Play in European Championships on Saturday". Horse Sport Ireland. 5 September 2014.
  18. ^ Olympic dreams for Irish polo team. The Irish Field, 26 December 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  19. ^ Polo in the heart of London. Polo+10, 18 August 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  20. ^ "St Moritz's Snow Polo World Cup, the most glamorous and unusual of sporting events". The Daily Telegraph. 28 January 2015.
  21. ^ "The inventor is back". POLO+10. 30 January 2015.
  22. ^ "Does horse sport get any more glamorous than this? [PICS]". Horse & Hound. 4 February 2015.
  23. ^ "Dubai Polo Team wins INDI Silver Cup". POLO+10 The Polo Magazine. Polo+10. 17 August 2015.
  24. ^ "World-class teams in St. Moritz". POLO+10. 26 October 2015.