Rebuffed by the legal process in England to derail a pending sale of Liverpool to New England Sports Ventures, beleaguered co-owners Tom Hicks and George GillettWednesday secured a temporary injunction from a Texas District State Court to delay the transaction — a move that was quickly blocked by the High Court in London on Thursday.
A petitionfiled in the Texas court claimed $1.6 billion in damages and that club chairman Martin Broughton engineered an “epic swindle” at the behest of Royal Bank of Scotland, the club’s maincreditor that is due a 237 million-pound (about $375 million) loan repayment on Friday. RBS appointed Broughton in April to solicit bids for the club.
“The owners’ behavior conclusivelydemonstrates just how incorrigible they are,” the High Court judge said Thursday. “They are absolutely determined to stop thistransaction in its tracks and they have no lawful justification for behaving in this way.”
While Hicks and Gillett have acknowledged they must sell, they also contend the proposed price of 300million pounds (about $475 million) undervalues the club. A second court hearing in Dallas was scheduled for Thursday.