Terence Shepherd Charged With Fraud.

10/8/2009

The Serious Fraud Office in London finally brought formal fraud charges this week against Terence Frank Shepherd, his wife, Margaret Canty-Shepherd, and four others for their alleged involvement in the Beijing ticketing scam and other online ticket frauds. (For details on the charges, click here. For more information on Shepherd, see our piece here.)

The other defendants are: Alan Scott, Geert van Meel, Cyril Gold, and Allan Schaverien.

Alan Scott was director of the Xclusive companies, and partnered with Geert van Meel on the founding of The Online Ticket Exchange LTD. According to Scott, Mrs. Canty-Shepherd had loaned money to the Xclusive companies. Government insolvency documents show that she also made substantial loans of hundreds of thousands of pounds to an earlier failed Shepherd ticketing enterprise, Sports Mondial.

Geert van Meel was a founder of both The OnlineTicket Exchange LTD and Xclusive Leisure & Hospitality LTD.

Allan Schaverien, who founded The OnlineTicketShop.com UK LTD with Terence Shepherd in 2003, has been in serious trouble before. He entered guilty pleas in court last year-to multiple charges of false accounting. Schaverien avoided prison only due to his failing health. (For more on Schaverien, click here.)

When Terence Shepherd and the others, including Schaverien, face these new charges in court on October 15, 2009, these six who have been charged with defrauding so many others, even Olympic athletes and their families, may not be so lucky.