Former Palace owner John Textor suffers setback in Eagle Football court case

The former Crystal Palace owner John Textor has suffered another setback with the UK commercial court ruling he has a case to answer in a $97m (£72m) claim from an investor in his multi-club group, Eagle Football.

The dispute stems from Iconic Sport’s $75m purchase three years ago of a 15.7% stake in Eagle, which holds majority stakes in Lyon, Botafogo of Brazil and the rebranded Belgian club RWD Brussels (formerly RWD Molenbeek). Eagle was also the biggest shareholder at Palace until July, when Textor sold his 43% stake to former US ambassador Woody Johnson.

Iconic brought the legal action against Textor in July, alleging he had failed to honour a contract to buy back their $75m stake if Eagle was not floated on the stock exchange, plus 11% in annual interest.

Textor had countersued Iconic in the United States in July alleging he was duped, but the Florida district court dismissed that motion this week, ruling the case should be heard in the UK.

In his defence, Textor claimed Iconic failed to hand over the paperwork required to complete the deal, most notably a stock transfer form and share certificate, and argued that the obligation to buy them out was never triggered.

In a judgment published by the commercial court, Judge Pelling KC ruled in favour of Iconic on a preliminary issue.

A spokesperson for Iconic Sports said: “Today’s decision from the UK Commercial Court confirms unequivocally that John Textor knowingly violated contractual commitments and owes Iconic Sports approximately $97m excluding legal costs. Iconic intends to recover the funds that are rightfully owed, and will pursue all options, in any jurisdiction, to do so.”

Textor confirmed his intention to appeal. “While this is a preliminary hearing, I am disappointed with the decision not to end this lawsuit at the outset. I intend to appeal.”

Textor has endured a difficult time since watching Palace win the FA Cup at Wembley in May, the final game of his eventful four-year ownership. In addition to selling his Palace stake he resigned from the Lyon board in June after they were relegated to Ligue 2 for breaching financial rules, although Eagle remains the club’s biggest shareholders and the club has since been reinstated in the top flight.

Since leaving Palace Textor has had talks with Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri about buying him out at Hillsborough, and has publicly confirmed his interest, but has yet to meet the owner’s asking price.

During the commercial court case, Iconic questioned whether Textor has the money to settle his alleged debt and his source of funding for the proposed Wednesday takeover is unclear. A previous attempt to buy Everton last year failed to materialise despite entering exclusive negotiations with the then owner Farhad Moshiri.