Olympic athlete Steele admits he's a victim of sponsorship scam

EXCLUSIVE - By James Toney and Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat

OLYMPIC athlete Andrew Steele has spoken of his embarrassment after falling victim to a sports sponsorship scam run by a convicted fraudster.

EMBARRASSED: Andrew Steele, pictured competing at the Beijing Olympics, was one of the senior members of the Great Britain team to pay money to Global Sponsorship Group (Getty Images)

Steele, who competed for Great Britain over 400m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was one of more than 20 track and field athletes who paid money to Croydon-based Global Sponsorship Group.

As revealed by Sportsbeat yesterday, GSG and its chief executive and sole director Mark Cas are the subject of a police investigation after taking thousands of pounds in management fees in return for promised but non-existent sponsorship deals.

National sports agency Sportsbeat understands Cas - who has served two prison sentences for fraud - has also run up six-figure debts with suppliers, while staff walked out before Christmas after wages were not paid.

Steele paid £500 to GSG after spotting their name in new stories published in an athletics magazine and two national newspapers.

Cas claimed they had facilitated him a £7,500 sponsorship with official London 2012 partner British Airways but no money was ever forwarded.

GSG signed up former Olympic sprint relay champion Mark Lewis-Francis and hurdler Andy Turner to add credibility to their operation, although neither was aware of the scam and have only a fraction of the money they were promised.

Cas also told sprinter Abi Oyeptian he would pay for a post-season operation, although she's been left saddled with the £2,000 bill.

Steele, who was sidelined through much of 2009 through injury, admits he was 'naive' but claims his suspicions were allayed by the presence of both Lewis-Francis and Turner on GSG's books.

"I saw Mark Lewis-Francis had signed up as well and he had been featured in one of the national newspapers talking about it, all of that gave it credibility," he said.

"It was offering a financial lifeline and after the year I have had it seemed perfect.

"I was a bit sceptical about the £500 at first. I asked: 'why does it have to be up front, why can't I give it once the sponsorship has been secured?' They said that if the money didn't materialise then I would get a refund, so I thought I'd go for it.

"I was told British Airways wanted to sponsor me and I was sent a contract to sign, saying I had to commit to three appearances and one photo shoot.

"The money was due on December 20th but it never materialised and it still hasn't.

"Looking back, it was something that was clearly too good to be true and I'm annoyed with myself about it."