Beware sports agents with grand-sounding company names

This story was updated on 05/01, 06/01 and 08/01 - see below

BRITISH Olympians Go For 2012 Gold with Sponsorship from GSG, the press release, issued last October, boldly predicted.

STAR NAME: Olympic sprint relay champion Mark Lewis-Francis was among those who signed up with Global Sponsorship Group, now the subject of a police investigation (Getty Images)

Global Sponsorship Group - who claimed to be offering athletes full management and sponsorship services worth £1 million - were clearly new players with big ambitions.

So big that just six days later, another release arrived.

"Global Sponsorship Group - the birth of a sporting hero" - it shouted, clearly written by someone from the John Lewis 'never knowingly undersold' school of public relations.

And it seemed in less than a week they'd made giant strides to match their billing, claiming an ‘anticipated portfolio of over £35 million in sponsorship packages available from major FTSE 100 companies'.

They were a little vague when pressed on the details but they promised star names were already signing up in the dash for cash ahead of the London Olympics.

But their portfolio of ‘champion athletes', with the greatest of respect, didn't quite live up to the hype.

Gary Wilson, the national long jump champion nearly a decade ago and Lucy Boggis, the UK's number five ranked heptathlete, probably better known as Tempest from Gladiators, were two of GSG's top-five signings.

Sprint hurdler Andy Turner, who just missed out a medal at last year's European Indoor Championships, was arguably the biggest name, although former Olympic champion Mark Lewis-Francis later signed on the dotted line - singing the praises of GSG in interviews with two national newspapers.

The names above were promised lucrative contracts and even flash cars, acting as bait for others less fortunate, who were required to pay a £500 membership fee to GSG and then were told to patiently wait for the sponsorship money to roll in. It seems they are still waiting.

"In the run up to 2012, we can't afford to lose talent," said GSG chief executive Mark Cas, 

"If British sport is to excel, all our sportspeople need to have access to the right systems and processes to secure the financing they need. "They should only have to concentrate on their training to enhance their performance. 

"Let them do what they do best."

It was a fine sentiment but something didn't seem right.

When Turner was returned to national lottery funding, we received a panicked phone call from GSG informing us that he wouldn't sign the terms of UKA's funding contract because of his relationship with them.

A couple of calls later and UK Athletics confirmed this as nonsense.

Interest pricked, we started to dig a little deeper.

You'd expect a company with such multi-million pound turnover to have a swish London office, with perhaps a subsidiary somewhere sunny, like Dubai.

So a PO Box address on Croydon High Street seemed a little strange.

Cas - the sole director of Global Sponsorship Group, Global Sponsorship Trading, Global Sponsorship and Global Sponsorship Limited - claimed to have spent two years developing his business model.

But then again considering he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in 2004, after pleading guilty to six counts of obtaining property by deception and two of evading liability by deception, he had a lot of time on his hands.

Cas or Castley or whatever you want to call him is certainly best avoided.

He was likened in his last court appearance to Del Boy - an unfair comparison. Derek Trotter was funny, there is nothing remotely amusing about the track record of Global Sponsorship Group's sole director.

UPDATE 05/01/10: Plenty of people and organisations duped by Cas have been in contact with the Sportsbeat newsdesk today - and not just athletes.

We've spoken to staff who have endured a miserable Christmas after wages went unpaid and suppliers who are now resigned to not receiving their money for services rendered.

It is estimated Cas has run up six figures debts between launching the company last July and this week.

Athletes have been in touch, with most admitting they feel stupid about falling for the scam.

And it's not just track and field where Cas has focused his attention - from promising polo players to aspiring rowers, there are scores of Global Sponsorship Group victims.

Even today Cas was still trying to convince the owner of one Glasgow-based British Touring Car team that if he paid £1000, GSG would provide a cheque for a nearly one million pounds after securing sponsorship with a household telecommunications company from their portfolio of clients.

True to the hackneyed stereotype, the team's Scottish owner was a canny chap with money and saw straight through the scam, quickly tipping us off that Cas was still trying to trade.

The man himself is sticking to his guns - claiming mistaken identity and promising legal action.

He claims to have hired the best lawyers in the business - and we can't wait to hear from them!

UPDATE 07/01/10: The Global Sponsorship Group website is now back online - with Andy Turner and Mark Lewis-Francis featuring prominently. Also featuring on photographs are Lewis Hamilton, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, although none has any association with the company.

Lewis-Francis confirmed to the Daily Telegraph he was in dispute with GSG - but was prevented from going further on legal advice.

“Fortunately, I’ve got a good agent and a good coach looking after me,” he said. “UK Athletics have also been very helpful."

Cas is still insisting everything is above board and athletes can pay him their £500 in confidence.

“We sacked some staff and that has given rise to this whole thing,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“I will talk about it next week once proceedings have been issued against people.

"All I will say is that none of the athletes like Lewis-Francis were asked to front up any money.”

UPDATE 08/01/10: Promising eventer Kitty Boggis - whose sister Lucy was one of GSG’s first wave of athletes - is another potential victim.

Boggis was told she would receive a six-figure budget to buy a horse in a bid to qualify for London 2012.

But she’s received nothing, according to Horse and Hound.

Kitty told H&H: "I am taking legal action but I don't want to mess that up by saying anything at this stage."

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