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From BBC News / Devon:
John Russell, 51, from West Yorkshire, and his deputy Michael Lewis, 65, from Swansea, both pleaded guilty to fraud.
Before being appointed chairman in 2002, Russell falsely claimed he had assets which could be used as personal guarantees for the club's debts.
Lewis was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court to 200 hours of community work for playing a lesser part in the fraud.
Russell, of Cannon Hall Close, Brighouse also pleaded guilty to obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.
Chairman 'broke'
A former Scarborough FC chairman, Russell had claimed to own a hotel, property and businesses.
Paul Dunkels, prosecuting, said: "He was broke. He had no assets, no money and no bank account and certainly had no money to invest in Exeter City."
Russell and Lewis, from Loughor Road, Gorseinon, continued trading and paid themselves generous consultancy fees despite knowing the club was insolvent and unable to repay loans.
The court heard how they moved money from accounts to buy themselves time, cheques were bounced and money earmarked for the club's academy was illegally transferred.
They left the club £4.5m in debt, but the men blamed the previous regime for the club's position.
In sentencing Russell, judge David Ticehurst told him he had betrayed the club's fans and treated it as his own personal domain.
During the pair's time in charge, singer Michael Jackson was made an honorary director of the club, and visited the club's St James Park with Uri Geller, who was appointed vice chairman.
They said they believed they were caught after Uri Geller reported them to the police.
The supporters' trust later took over the club and agreed to pay back 7p in the pound to creditors.
See also: David Conn, in The Guardian
From BBC:
Devon and Cornwall Police said ex-chairman John Russell, 48, and former vice chairman Mike Lewis, 63, will appear before Exeter magistrates.
They will each face four charges including conspiracy to defraud, and the fraudulent trading of a company.
It follows a 20-month long police investigation into the club's finances.
Yorkshireman Mr Russell's wife Gillian, 49, will face allegations of theft and false accounting.
The trio were arrested by fraud squad officers in May 2003 when Exeter City was £5m in debt.
The club has been run since then by a supporters trust and is now out of debt following their FA Cup run which saw them play two games against holders Manchester United who beat the Grecians 2-0 in a replay in Devon last week.
The necessary 75% of creditors approved the move which means creditors will receive 10% of the money they are owed, reducing City's debt from a reported £4.8m to £480,000.
'This gives us a real chance now to take this club forward,' said Exeter chairman Ian Huxham. But we shouldn't be under any illusion that this is anything other than the start of it. The hard work has still to come. I know how it feels for those people who will be badly affected by this and I apologise, although this was a debt we inherited and did not create.
'But this now gives us a real opportunity to do something with Exeter City of which we can all be proud,' Huxham told the Exeter Express and Echo newspaper.
================== Previously ==================
Exeter's fans are close to a takeover at St James Park after assuming majority control of the boardroom reports the BBC.
Ian Huxham and Terry Pavey, members of the club's supporters trust, along with Julian Tagg, have been made directors of the club.
Chairman John Russell and vice-chairman Mike Lewis have agreed to step down once power has been transferred.
As reported below Mr Russell, his wife and Mr Lewis were recently arrested over allegations of financial irregularities at the club.
In a statement, Mr Huxham said: 'Everyone will be well aware of the difficulties that the club faces and we are taking specialist advice. 'We will keep the public informed of our progress and we will be consulting widely over the next few weeks.'
Mr Russell told the Express & Echo that he would be resigning shortly. 'It's time for a change and we expect and hope that all supporters of the new regime will put their full backing behind the new board,' said Russell.
Exeter's president Ivor Doble is also set to step aside and relinquish his majority shareholding.
================== Previously ==================
15.05.03
Two reports from the Exeter Express & Echo
Police have made two arrests after launching an inquiry into alleged financial irregularities at Exeter City Football Club.
Fraud squad officers from the Devon and Cornwall force executed a warrant at a private address in Swansea in connection with the investigation this morning.
Twenty officers, including a team from the Fraud Squad and the high-tech crime unit, executed warrants at private addresses in Exeter this morning, and went to the football club's offices at St James's Park.
Two people, a middle-aged man and woman, were arrested at the club. Police were revealing few details of the case this morning but did confirm that a probe - codenamed Operation Roe - into the football club's financial position was under way after several days of planning. City are crippled with debts estimated to be £2 million.
Chairman John Russell and vice-chairman Mike Lewis announced this week that they had called in accountants to study options open to them after an FA audit described the Grecians' financial position as 'perilous'. They admitted that they may have to consider seeking a voluntary agreement
with creditors over the debts.
Russell, a previous chairman of Scarborough Football Club and Lewis, a former managing director at Swansea City FC, took control in Exeter a year ago.
Five former directors recently quit the club after a boardroom row. And celebrity Uri Geller, who was due to join the club board, also severed his links with Russell and Lewis last week after a dispute.
Meanwhile, Lewis and chairman John Russell have been given a reprieve over a threat to evict them from the ground's St James Centre by its owners Old Tiverton Road Ltd (OTR).
Locks were changed at the weekend and the club was asked to vacate the premises. But at a meeting last night, the OTR board - which includes former club chairman Ivor Doble - agreed to allow Russell and Lewis to rent one office in the building and the club shop on a temporary basis - but they
cannot use the bars and other offices in the centre. A row had started after the club failed to pay rent it owed. An OTR spokesman said: 'The gentleman's agreement of £2,000 per month has been reneged on three times, which has forced us into this position.'
The club was first given notice to vacate the premises in April when OTR gave Russell and Lewis a deadline of May 5 to leave. But the club owners made a new repayment offer to OTR in a bid to remain in the offices. That offer was rejected by OTR last week, which resulted in their action at the
weekend.
Russell insisted the compromise would not limit the club's activities and they were now looking to build their own offices under the Ivor Doble stand.. 'Myself and Mike, as much as we would like to rent a section from OTR, felt that paying vast sums of money for rent when we could run our own bars and
offices would not be in our best interests,' said Russell.
================== Previously ==================
02.05.03
The contradictions coming out of Exeter at the moment smack of a club in total disarray. Reports we are Exeter website (link below)
It has recently emerged that Uri and Daniel Geller were never even registered with the Football League as fully-fledged directors of the club.
In many respects this shouldn't come as a surprise given Geller's career has been about illusions.
Reports in the local press basically state that the board is telling one story and Geller is telling another with Geller saying it's a minor 'technical problem' without being at liberty to state what the problem is.
Geller reaffirmed his commitment to the club but unfortunately until he he can sign any documentation to confirm he is on board with the board then there's no real reason to treat any of this as little more than rhetoric.
The Express & Echo quote Geller as saying: 'I don't really know how much (I've invested) because I've stopped counting, although it's not in the hundreds of thousands. I wish the club would get better and in a situation where we can start regrouping and reorganising in a leaner and nicer way. No matter what happens, my heart will always be with Exeter City and so will Daniel's.'
So what chance now of the Geller's wash their hands of the affair, especially if the club slides into the Conference?
It all comes on the back of an exceptionally damning report by David Conn in The Independent over the weekend which came a result of a leaked document relating the club's accounts. Conn is ever the one willing to delve into the murky world of lower division finances. not surprisingly his revelations drew an angry response from the club with John Russell stating it's now in the hands of the club's lawyer.
Russell and Mike Lewis have effectively been left to run the club with other directors quitting. Fears were raised by Swansea supporters about Lewis's credentials following his time at that club and Russell's tenure at Scarborough was hardly covered in glory given the club was taken into CVA. He also did a stretch for fraud.
=================== Previously ===================
Exeter City have new owners. Uri Geller is the new joint chairman of Third Division side and will work alongside ex-Swansea chairman Mike Lewis and the former Scarborough man John Russell.
The trio have taken over from chairman Ivor Doble, who expressed his determination to sell his controlling interest in the club last month.
However the fans are not convinced at this change as an extract from we are exeter .com (link below) shows:-
I wonder how much convincing it took Ivor Doble to win a prestigious place on the new regime? And I wonder whose idea it was to honour the former Chairman with the honourable role of 'Honorary President'? Could it possibly have been the same man who decided to name the 2,200 Football Trust funded Grandstand the 'Ivor Doble Stand'?
How can we 'start afresh' with Doble still very much involved with the club. He deserves this new role as much as the next City fan. He's made countless mistakes, done very little to improve the state of this club and, judging from their track records, passed the club onto a pair of complete incompetents.
It's hard to be enthusiastic about the new board when it contains so many familiar faces. Just yesterday Bernard Frowd told Exeweb: that he, alongside his fellow directors, would not be vacating their positions despite the new board's arrival.
Can you blame me for being sceptical about this co-called take-over?
