A married father of two who put thousands into Rory Campbell’s failed football-betting syndicate has died before receiving his investment back.
The backer, a well-known figure in the betting world, had messaged Campbell in 2023 in relation to the lost £160,000, saying: ‘Are you going to send some money soon or are you just hoping I die before you need to pay up?’
It comes following the collapse of the syndicate – run by the son of Tony Blair’s former spin chief, Alastair Campbell – in December, more than 18 months after the first investors tried to withdraw their cash, The Times reports.
A number of people accused the 37-year-old football analyst of failing to give them the full truth about the fund and accepting new investment after existing backers struggled to take out money.
Campbell’s own father is understood to be among those alleged to have lost money from the venture.
And last month an investor who was owed £160,000 also died without being paid after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2023.
The man told Campbell he was ‘reaching the end of my tether’.
In the weeks leading up to his death, he remained part of the group pushing for a meaningful settlement, according to The Times.
Alastair Campbell’s son Rory’s (pictured) football betting syndicate has gone bust, with losses of up to £5million
Alastair with his son Rory (right) and Calum Campbell (centre) at the London Stadium
The syndicate, beginning in 2017, bet on the Premier League, the German Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga using mathematical models intended to give it an edge over the rest of the betting market by assessing the effect of injuries, how well players link up and factors such as the weather.
It puts on as many as 80 bets a week of between $10,000 and $30,000 for top-flight games.
Sources said Campbell told investors in April ‘everyone will get paid in the summer’ and ‘there is absolutely no hole’ in the fund, before in June promising again they would be paid back in full by the end of July.
But it is claimed that on July 18 he warned people they might receive ‘in the region of 50-65 per cent’ of their investment before the syndicate collapsed all-together.
Recent weeks have seen more than 10 investors in the fund, who were put together to be placed on top-flight European matches, refer Campbell to the police.
The Met said it received reports of an alleged ‘fraud relating to a gambling syndicate, that officers are liaising with complainants and that no arrests have been made at this stage.’
Alastair Campbell, the former director of communications under Tony Blair, and his partner, Fiona Millar, were said to be among the losers, with an investment of £288,000.
Sources said ‘at least’ 10 backers had made a report via Action Fraud against the football analyst after negotiations to reach a settlement collapsed in January.
Alastair Campbell and his partner Fiona Millar (pictured) are believed to have invested nearly £300,000 in the business
A spokesman for Campbell claimed ‘baseless accusations of criminal activity’ were simply ‘an attempt to exert pressure on’ him.
It is said Campbell initially blamed Asian bookmakers for failing to pay their debts – though, investors asked how the money was lost so quickly.
They claimed that throughout negotiations they never received a detailed explanation with evidence of where there money had gone.
Campbell, a philosophy, politics and economics graduate from Oxford University, previously said he ‘spent the majority of my degree time playing poker, watching football and betting on football’.
He advised West Ham United as a technical scout and analyst through his company, C&N Sporting Risk, and later led its aborted attempt to buy Bury FC in 2019.
More than 50 people are understood to have placed between £10,000 and £500,000 each in the syndicate over the past five years.
Around 20 of the investors have compiled a dossier of evidence to pass to the police, including contracts setting out how the syndicate would run, bank statements, emails stating that the fund was profitable and spreadsheets detailing how much it was supposedly making.
Sources say Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Tony Blair’s lord chancellor (and a former flatmate in the ’70s), led negotiations in December and met twice with investors to try and negotiate a financial settlement on behalf of the Campbell family.
Sources said Lord Falconer (pictured) met twice with investors to try and negotiate a financial settlement on behalf of the Campbell family
The meetings were described as ‘long and bruising’ and initially collapsed after frustrated investors went straight to the press.
Alastair Campbell and Millar have also stumped up £454,000 in ‘personal and professional costs’ on behalf of their son in the past year, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
A spokesman for Rory Campbell said they would not comment on ‘private and confidential negotiations’, but added angry investors had given a ‘a distorted and often inaccurate account’ of what happened.
They added: ‘Though he was under no obligation to do so, Mr Campbell sought through lawyers to reach a settlement.
‘Unfortunately, as these negotiations were ongoing, some of those involved chose to go down the different paths of media briefing and baseless accusations of criminal activity, in an attempt to exert pressure on Mr Campbell.
‘The only reason this story in a high-risk industry is deemed remotely newsworthy is because Mr Campbell has a well-known father with a political profile. That strategy has failed. We sought to resolve this in a reasonable manner and regret that the actions of others have made this impossible.
‘Mr Campbell was aware that one of the syndicate members was seriously ill, and was of course saddened by his passing.’
