Ex-Preston North End and Derby County bidder found guilty of money laundering and wire fraud

Chris Kirchner - the American businessman who made a bid to buy Preston North End in 2022 - has been found guilty of four counts of wire fraud and seven counts of money laundering.

The ex-Slync CEO has been convicted of defrauding investors out of at least $25m, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Leigha Simonton. His home was raided by the FBI in February 2023 and in May, a federal grand jury indicted him on five counts of wire fraud and eight counts of money laundering.

He now faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count of wire fraud and up to 10 year per count of 'engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity'. The 36-year-old's sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

Kirchner operated as CEO from 2017, but was fired by the company's board in August 2022 - having used the $25m~ for his own personal use. Kirchner had not been paying his employees for several months, while flying to golf tournaments all over the world on his private jet.

Earlier that year, Kirchner had a bid accepted to buy PNE from the Hemmings family - only for his period of exclusivity, as the preferred bidder, to eventually expire. Kirchner then returned to Derby County, who were in financial disarray at the time. But, Kirchner withdrew from that process in June 2022 and left lifelong Derby fan, David Clowes, needing to rescue the football club.

A statement, published by the United States' Attorney's Office, partly read: 'Records indicate that Slync raised roughly $7 million in its Series A investment round and roughly $50 million in its Series B investment round. All investor funds, which were supposed to be used for “product development and other general corporate purposes,” were wired into the company’s account at Silicon Valley Bank.

'Mr. Kirchner misappropriated the investor funds in various ways: Between April 2020 and March 2022, Mr. Kirchner initiated nearly 100 wire transfers moving money from Slync’s Silicon Valley Bank account into the company’s account at JPMorgan Chase Bank – an account only he had access to.

'He then wired much of the money from the Chase account to his personal bank accounts. In addition, Mr. Kirchner wired $20 million directly from Slync’s Silicon Valley Bank account into his personal checking account. He used some of those funds to buy a $16 million private jet and to secure a luxury suite at the stadium of a Dallas-area professional sports team.'