2012 Olympic hopefuls fear they're victims of sponsorship scam
UP to two dozen of Britain's leading athletics hopefuls for the 2012 London Olympics, including a former Commonwealth champion, fear that they've been victims of a financial scam run by a convicted fraudster who has been described by a sentencing judge as 'an incorrigible con man'.
BIG NAME SIGNINGS: Sprint hurdler Andy Turner and former Olympic champion Mark Lewis-Francis were two of the names signed up with Global Sponsorship Group
National press agency Sportsbeat understands from the Metropolitan Police that an investigation is underway into the activities of Global Sponsorship Group, and its chief executive, Mark Cas, after the company took tens of thousands of pounds in management fees from athletes and charitable businesses, but could not deliver the income promised.
"I terminated my contract," one leading athlete told Sportsbeat.
"It was a complete piece of rubbish.
"Fortunately, I did not pay any money, but I was suspicious from the start.
"He (Cas) was really pushy, and no one in athletics comes to you offering to pay you £50,000 and saying ‘What Audi do you want?'"
Cas set up Global Sponsorship Group and three associated companies in July last year, and was soon claiming that he had secured £35 million in corporate sponsorships, which he planned to use to pay salaries to top sportsmen and women in return for their commercial image rights.
In a flurry of publicity soon after opening his worldwide headquarters in a rented office in Croydon, Cas's company claimed it had lined up Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis, Commonwealth and European hurdles medal-winner Andy Turner and promising heptathlete Lucy Boggis.
Lewis-Francis, 27, who missed out on the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was cut from UK Athletics' funding programme last autumn, believed that Global Sponsorship's backing had salvaged his stalled career, describing it as a ‘financial lifeline' by agreeing to pay for the entire cost of his medical and physiotherapy needs.
"It's nice just to know that someone out there has belief in me," Lewis-Francis told the Daily Telegraph, just a month ago.
"I was on the verge of retirement. This has definitely saved my career and given me a second chance to go out there and prove to the world that I'm still a decent sprinter."
Working...
Comments
Mr Castley
Does anyone know the outcome of this?
How do we know he is signing
How do we know he is signing as Mark Anderson?! That is a bit random, Castley, Castle, Cas and Casperman and now Anderson - this man wont stop will he!?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fe
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1327152/Michael-Winners-PA-deceived-conman.html
He's at it again!
Tip of the iceberg
I see the article's no longer available. Why? We all know what he's like. Which begs the question; now that Castley's a player in the romance business who's looking out for the ladies? God help them.
Probably removed due to the
Probably removed due to the up-coming court case. I have a found a copy by Googling for "mark casperman" and picking the second link.
We have found that he is signing his name as Mark Anderson now, so there is another alias to add to the pile.
Hey just to let you know the
Hey just to let you know the trail starts in Feb 2011 Croydon Crown court!
Have the dates for the trial
Have the dates for the trial been confirmed yet?
I also worked for him
I was interviewed in a hotel in croydon by this man and I knew something wasnt right, i was offered the job but asked far too many questions and then told actually I wasnt what he was looking for!
Ill try and attend his court case I want to see that lard @ss go to prison!
When is he going to court?
When is he going to court?
This man goes by various
This man goes by various names. In the article they note that he uses Mark Cas and his real name is Mark Castley.
He has also used Mark Cass, and the latest name he is using is Mark Casperman. He has ID in all of these names.
Please do not trust him.
Mark cass
This man is a nasty piece of work I worked for him with out being paid was my 1st job since I left uni and it took me awhile to get and was so excited. He is a horrid man and nothing will change him. A leopard can never change it's spots.
Your comments about Mark Castley
Hi,
Just seen your comments about Mark Castley and that you said you worked for him for a while, I did too quite a while ago and I wondered if we'd been ripped off at the same company?
Mark Castley / Cas - Profession - Confidence Fraudster
If you have ever met this man he will only have how to extract your money from you as quickly as possible in mind.
Do not deal with this man, do not not acknowledge this man, he does not deserve the time of day.
Prison won't change him, he has now served 4 or 5 sentences for fraud. He needs special treatment, he is not right in the head.
From time to time i put the
From time to time i put the name Mark Castley in to google to see what happens. I'm not suprised to see him up to his old tricks. My company is a previous victims of his. One of many victims.
I hadn't realised he was out of prison. If you've given the man money there's no doubt that you wont see it again. They're not joking when they say hundreds of thousands.
I'm not sure that the prison system can rehabilitate him. He will do it again and come up with another scam, in another area.
He's ruined the lives of so many.
Mark Cass
Only a matter of time - I got stung by this scam too back in July and am still trying to recover my money. He offered me a job and shares in his company - thank fully I turned him down otherwise I would be one of the many that have worked for him for nothing - Everyone should be aware of this nasty little character
Post new comment