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Utz Claassen reports Serra Ferrer and Cladera for fraud

And so the drama continues. It has been confirmed that one of the club directors, Utz Claassen, will be taking majority shareholder Llorenç Serra Ferrer and club president Jaume Cladera to court for fraud over inflated share prices when the German bought into the club.

Claassen bought 10% of shares from Mateu Alemany back in November 2010. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Hannover and was heavily involved with the financial restructuring of both football club Hannover 96 and the car company Seat. Claassen is a billionaire and has vast experience. And as well as his experience in the financial field, the club intended to use his knowledge of the German market to help internationalise the club.

He then bought a further 10% of shares in late 2011 after the departure of the Nadal family from RCD Mallorca, following the Board’s latest disgrace in a long line of embarrassments.

After many conspiracy theories about people trying to overthrow Serra Ferrer, namely the likes of Pedro Terrasa, the Board fell out (again)  in October. Serra Ferrer’s allies, Miquel Coca and Biel Cerdà, launched attacks on Terrasa in the hope to force him out of the club. In the end, they were all forced to make up like naughty school children. But this didn’t stop the club from sacking Director of Communications Jordi Jiménez in November for ‘breaching the club’s trust’ before having to accept that their actions were unjustifiable.

The waters settled for a while before a letter wrote by Claassen to the Board in January was leaked by Spanish newspaper Última Hora in which the German businessman called for ‘more transparency‘. It later transpired that Claassen believed that Serra Ferrer and Cladera knowingly inflated the club’s share price beyond its value when the German bought his shares in the club.

Claassen demanded either €600,000 compensation, or 30% of the club’s shares taken from Serra Ferrer which would, in turn, make Claassen the club’s majority shareholder. Serra Ferrer rejected the offer and instead offered €500,00 plus interest for the additional 10% of shares which Claassen bought not long ago. But Claassen, when speaking to the media, said ‘I’m not selling anything.’

Happy 96th birthday RCD Mallorca.