Historic Notts County’s crisis deepens today with the revelation that an advisor to the club’s potential saviours is a jailed fraudster using a new name.
The club, founder members of the Football League, is up for sale and has an unpaid £250,000 HMRC tax bill.
Owner Alan Hardy fought off a winding-up order in the High Court this week after saying he is in talks with two consortia following the club’s relegation into non-league.
The bidders include a consortium led by lawyer Colin Dodd, using advisor Alex May.
But Mirror Sport has learned May changed his name by deed poll. Previously known as Alick Kapikanya, he has a criminal past due to a multi-million scam.
He was jailed in 2014 for six years for leading a gang of con artists who targeted elderly homeowners in Manchester from 2007.
They stole their identities, secretly seized ownership of their houses then repeatedly remortgaged them.
During the trial, Kapikanya was described as a flamboyant fraudster who enjoyed a luxury lifestyle after stealing £3.5million and attempting to secure another £3.3m.
It left horrified homeowners fighting to reclaim legal ownership of their own houses while Kapikanya travelled in chauffeur-driven limousines and stayed in luxury West End hotels.
Kapikanya squirrelled £1m of the proceeds into accounts at Mayfair casinos, where he gambled away £170,000 in a single night.
Now known as May, the 50-year-old is listed at Companies House as a director of various companies with the same month and year of birth as Kapikanya.
Lawyer Dodd confirmed May’s past and that he is acting as a facilitator in a buy-out of embattled Hardy, whose Paragon Interiors firm went into administration this year.
Dodd told Mirror Sport: “Alex May, when we were first introduced, disclosed everyone about his conviction. He has changed his name. He came clean and told us and everyone involved in this transaction is aware of that.
“He deserves a second chance, everyone makes mistakes in life and that is what we are doing.
“That is on the record, everyone involved in this project knows his background. He has spent the last 10 years trying to restore his reputation. He has been helping us with his knowledgeable contacts.”
County’s potential new owners face a race against time to complete a takeover.
A winding-up application brought by HMRC over the unpaid tax bill was adjourned until July 10 at the High Court in London on Wednesday.
Hardy gained an extension as he bids to complete a sale with a South African consortium led by Terry Pritchard also in talks.
Dodd, whose group also includes former Leeds and Sheffield United midfielder Gary Hamson, now aims to wrap up their deal quickly to help stabilise the Magpies and keep them out of administration.
They are targeting a quick promotion back into the Football League and plan to conduct a root-and-branch review, including Neal Ardley’s position as boss. Their plans could also see a hotel built on the Meadow Lane site.
County previously had a controversial owner when the mysterious Munto Finance bought County in 2009 and briefly installed Sven Goran Eriksson as director of football in an ill-fated regime that included signing Sol Campbell for a single appearance.
