Craig Burley, a former Chelsea and Celtic footballer who retired in the early 2000s from football, and now a pundit and commentator for US sports channel, ESPN, appealed to the First Tier Tribunal over a tax demand for £465,967.34.

This related to the assignment of interests in partnership profits after Burley invested over £1.4m in two partnership film schemes, known as Bothwell Media I and Bothwell Media II. Two thirds of the investment was funded through a £1.14m loan Burley secured from Société Générale bank in July 2001.

Even the tribunal acknowledged this was a historic case for the witnesses, saying that ‘given the passage of time, their recollection of some events was not detailed, but we found all three to be straightforward witnesses and we accept their evidence’. 

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