Birmingham City Owner, Carson Yeung Jailed For Money Laundering

Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung has been jailed for six years by a Hong Kong court for money laundering.

The 54-year-old had denied laundering HK$720m (£55m) through his bank accounts between 2001 and 2007.

He was arrested and charged in June 2011, two years after he acquired the football club.

The trial judge said Yeung the former hair stylist had lied about how he made his money and his testimony was "self-contradictory".

Yeung, who was convicted on Monday, claimed he had accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars through stock trading, business ventures in mainland China, a hair salon and a keen interest in gambling.

But Judge Douglas Yau said: "I find the defendant not a witness of truth. I find that he is someone who is prepared to, and did try to, lie whenever he saw the need to do so."

The trial was told the businessman was unable to show where almost HK$100 million (£7.7m) in his bank accounts had come from.

Yeung bought Birmingham City in October 2009 for £81.5m from David Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham.

He is the majority shareholder but resigned in February as president of Birmingham City FC, director of Birmingham City plc and director and chairman of the club's parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Ltd (BIHL).