Louis Tomlinson was duped by prolific pension fraudsters during a failed takeover of his beloved Doncaster Rovers.
The former One Direction singer, 33, became the public face of a campaign to find the Yorkshire football club a buyer in 2014.
As part of his bid to catapult his boyhood team to the Premier League, Mr Tomlinson launched a crowdfunder to raise £6 million in investment.
According to The Daily Mirror, the Back To You hitmaker was duped by investors who had pledged £500,000, but turned out to be a criminal gang.
Last month, Kevin Phelan, Daniel Giles and Adrian Bashforth were convicted of stealing £3.7 million from people’s pension nest eggs.
During the trial, the jury was told that Mr Tomlinson had become involved with the fraudsters via former Rovers chairman John Ryan.
They aimed to use the takeover bid 11 years ago as a means to cover their tracks and explain missing cash to police.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the gang met Mr Tomlinson at his Cheshire mansion, and later at a One Direction gig in Dublin.
A text by Phelan’s co-defendant Giles in January 2024 read: “I've been interrogated for the last few hours over 1D boy. Kids want to come to the next meeting mate.
“I'm thinking 16 million brainwashed followers. Very, very interesting. Let's crack on now together and build a nice fighting fund.”
Mr Tomlinson signed an agreement that would hand 70 per cent of the club’s ownership to Belize-based Sequentia Capital SA if the purchase went ahead as planned.
However, the attempted takeover collapsed after the crowdfunder raised just £600,000 and Phelan’s claims of an investor lined up to inject millions never transpired.
Tomlinson said at the time that he had been “misled” about the situation, saying in a series of social media posts: “I am desperate for the club to be given the recognition it deserves.
“I was explicitly told that the deal to buy the club was not dependent on the money raised by Crowdfunding. Unfortunately I was misled.
“My passion for Doncaster Rovers remains as strong as ever, and I hope that I can still be involved with the club moving forward.”
The court heard that the gang scooped £3.7 million from the pension pots of more than 200 victims. They are due to be sentenced in January.
There is no suggestion that Mr Thomlinson or Mr Ryan had any knowledge of the pension fraud.
