Taken from The Independent:
Riise takes former agent to court in persuit of £m fraud
The Liverpool midfielder John Arne Riise is at the centre of one of the biggest fraud cases in football and is pursuing his former agent through the Norwegian courts for around £3m in what is proving a salutary lesson to Premiership stars and the way in which they invest their fortunes.
Riise might have emerged relatively unscathed from the golf club attack by Craig Bellamy at Liverpool's Portugal training camp last month but his finances are proving much more difficult to straighten out. The Norwegian court official Odd Jo Forsell confirmed to The Independent yesterday that Riise is claiming a total of 37m kroner (£3.1m) from Einar Baardsen, the agent from whom he split in 2005.
However, Baardsen, who has been registered as bankrupt in Norway, has denied Riise's claim and says he will counter-claim for 9m kroner (£750,000) from the player. The case is currently in the hands of administrators who are deciding what assets Baardsen has to share among his creditors and, once that is completed, the dispute between the two parties is likely to be decided in court in the Norwegian town of Stavanger.
The money that Riise is claiming has gone missing was allegedly taken out in loans unauthorised by him but taken out in his name.
Riise has privately admitted that he signed documents on Baardsen's recommendation without scrutinising the detail. Investments also include a hotel that went out of business and the fear is that if Riise cannot obtain the funds from Baardsen, he may have to cover the costs of certain creditors himself.
As one of the generation of Premiership footballers who has been around for the golden years of big salaries, Riise's case shows that footballers and their wealth can be vulnerable. Bought by Gérard Houllier from Monaco in the summer of 2001, Riise has also been a major part of Rafael Benitez's first team. While not one of the club's biggest stars, he signed a new contract last January that keeps him at the club until 2009.
Riise told the Norwegian newspaper VG last month: "I trusted him [Baardsen] and was shocked when I found out what had happened. Now I have good people around me that will help me out of this. Maybe this can be a warning to other young footballers."
Since leaving Baardsen, Riise has signed up with the highly regarded agent Struan Marshall of the SFX management company, which numbers Steven Gerrard among its clients. Riise now has a team of London-based Norwegian lawyers trying to untangle the web of financial investments he entered into. The judge overseeing the case, Liv Shelby, who sits in the district court of Ryfylke, said that Baardsen's "assets were low in comparison to the cost of the creditors".
In fact, those claiming money from Baardsen may have to guarantee the legal costs of the court's investigation into his finances if the state refuses to underwrite it. Riise is understood to reject completely Baardsen's claims that he is still owed money for work on contract negotiations on previous deals the player has signed at Liverpool.
Well, yet more proof why agents shouldn't be in the game. It is definately time Fifa or Uefa do something about agents, how can someone represent a players best interests when his main motivation is money? I can see two possible solutions to the problem, firstly put all agents on a set wage rather than a percentage, in theory if the agents getting paid the same regardless of where a player goes they should pick the option that's best for the player. Only problem with this solution is an agents greed isn't going to disappear overnight, and the likelihood of clubs paying bungs to get their man is huge. The other solution is to get rid of agents entirely and have the PFA represent players in contract/transfer negotiations. I'm no expert on these matters but this seems like a sensible solution to me, agents are like a cancer in the game these days.
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