Arrest Warrant Issued For Portsmouth Owner

A European arrest warrant has been issued by Lithuanian prosecutors for the Russian owner of Portsmouth Football Club, in connection with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets allegedly stripped from a local bank.

According to media reports, Portsmouth FC owner Vladimir Antonov and his Lithuanian partner Raimundas Baranauskas are the main suspects in a pre-trial investigation into an alleged fraud and money laundering case that is threatening to wipe out two Baltic banks.

Both are former managers and shareholders of Snoras Bank, one of the banks affected, while Latvian regulators suspended and took control of Latvijas Krajbanka due to an unexpected outflow of funds over recent days.

Lithuania’s Snoras Bank was nationalised last week after regulators discovered a huge asset shortfall.

In a statement, the prosecutors said: ‘Both former managers of the bank Snoras have been recognised as suspects with regard to misappropriation of property on a large scale and forgery of documents.’

‘R. Baranauskas is also suspected of fraudulent accounting and abuse of authority. Prosecutor General Mr D Valys signed European arrest warrants issued against these persons.’

The football club has announced to media that its business operations will remain unaffected and its day-to-day operations continue to carry on as normal.

Antonov is the backer of Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI), which owns Portsmouth FC.

In February 2010, Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to be placed into administration and CSI completed its takeover of the Championship side in June 2011.