Four charged in court appearance over fraud case related to ex-Northampton Town chairman

Four men have appeared in court in connection with a fraud case linked to the redevelopment of Northampton Town’s stadium.

The former chairman of the Cobblers appeared in a hearing at Northampton Magistrates Court earlier today (January 16) in connection with an investigation into an alleged theft and fraud case involving money in excess of 10 million pounds, in which money leant to the club to redevelop the Sixfields Stadium went missing.

The case marks the first time anyone has been brought before a court in relation to Operation Tuckhill, which is Northamptonshire Police’s investigation into the disappearance of money between £10.25 and £10.75 million loaned to the club by Northampton Borough Council in 2013 and 2014 to develop a new stand and hotel at the Cobblers’ Sixfields Stadium.

The intended new stand was not completed while the company who were intended to oversee the project were put into administration in January 2015.

Former Northampton Town chairman and owner David Cardoza, 54, of Eastbourne, was one of five men with links to the redevelopment who were due to appear at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on several counts of fraud and money laundering.

The other four included his father – 80-year-old former director Anthony Cardoza, of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, who was excused from appearing at court in person for health reasons.

Appearing in the court for the case were David Cardoza along with fellow charged defendants Howard Grossman, a 63-year-old property developer from Bushey in Hertfordshire, his son – 37-year-old Marcus Grossman, of Barnet in North London – and 54-year-old Simon Patnick, of Stanmore in north London.

No pleas were entered at the hearing and all five men were bailed to appear at Northampton Crown Court on 27 February 2025.

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation between September 2013 and April 2015.

These relate to false representations, allegedly made to Northampton Borough Council, that money loaned by the authority to the football club would be used solely for developing Sixfields Stadium and an adjoining hotel, which were “untrue or misleading”.

In addition, the Cardozas are both charged with fraud by abuse of position, contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act, which relates to a sum of £8.75m being paid from the football club to 1st Land Limited, a company owned by Howard Grossman.

David Cardoza is further charged with transferring criminal property, with Northamptonshire Police alleging that £166,000 was transferred in a credit balance via a bank transfer from the bank account of Northampton Town Football Club Limited, knowing or suspecting it to constitute or to represent, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the benefit from criminal conduct.

Howard Grossman also faces three charges of transferring criminal property, specifically amounts of £650,000 from the bank account of his company County Homes (Herts) Ltd to his son and fellow director, Hayden Grossman, as well as transferring £10,000 from 1st Land Limited to Simon Patnick and £15,000 from 1st Land Limited to Simpa Investments Limited, a company owned by Simon Patnick.

Mr Grossman and his son Marcus are further charged with transferring criminal property, namely £20,000, from Marcus Grossman’s account to Simon Patnick, knowing or suspecting it to constitute or to represent, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the benefit from criminal conduct.

As well as fraud, Simon Patnick is accused of acquiring criminal property contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, namely £61,800 in credit balances via bank transfers from or on behalf of Howard Grossman and Marcus Grossman knowing or suspecting it to constitute or to represent, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the benefit from criminal conduct.

Howard Grossman faces the same allegation, relating to a separate sum of £10,000 allegedly transferred to Margro Properties Ltd, a company run by Marcus Grossman.

A raid was carried out by Northamptonshire Police at Sixfields in November 2015, when a criminal investigation was formally launched into the missing money following a complaint by the now-defunct Northampton Borough Council. The raid and seizure of documents came shortly before Cardoza, who had run the club for 12 years, sold the club to a consortium lead by former Oxford United chairman Kelvin Thomas, who still own the club.

The redevelopment of the East Stand at Sixfields is currently in progress after new funding and a separate legal battle over rights to use land behind the stand, with the club hoping to open the fully developed stand later this year.