The tennis player Albert Ramos is preparing legal actions for an alleged scam that Joan Laporta used as a claim

Because there were all these names, which were shown to him as a guarantee of success, Ramos signed a loan agreement of $100,000 on February 15, 2016 in favor of Oliver, who was acting as a representative of CSSB . In return, the tennis player was to receive remuneration with 6% annual interest that would be settled quarterly and the return of the initial capital when the contract ended three years later, in 2019.

But CSSB Limited made interest payments only for four quarters. The total amount was around $6,000. Since then, the tennis player has not paid anything for this concept nor has he recovered the initial capital. “In addition, no explanation has been given to justify this situation”, reports his lawyer to the ARA. “At the beginning of 2023, there was a last attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement that has not yielded results, so we are currently studying and completing the possible judicial exits on this issue, including criminal proceedings against CSSB and its partners in any relevant jurisdiction,” he adds. In one of the attempts to resolve the situation out of court, Oliver cited health reasons. One of the particularities is that the contract signed by Ramos with CSSB Limited stipulates that, in the event of litigation, the judicial authorities in charge of the case will be those of Hong Kong.

Ramos accepted the operation because of his trust in Laporta

The current Barcelona president has denied several times his involvement with CSSB Limited, but the tennis player from Mataró, who will play this Saturday against Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Masters in Rome, decided to sign the loan contract because of the trust he had gave the fact that especially Laporta and Sala and Martín participated in the project. In the proposal that came to Ramos through a financial consultancy, according to his lawyer, the participation of Laporta, Yuste and Sala i Martín, along with CEO Oliver, was explicit. “My client was led to believe from the initial moment that behind it there was a solid corporate structure with renowned people who ensured the operation”, he points out.

In this sense, in February of this year The confidential showed proof of Laporta’s status as a partner in CSSB Limited in 2017. It is a document in which the current president of Barça signed on behalf of this company. The document, according to this media, belongs to the proceedings opened for an alleged crime of aggravated fraud for allegedly keeping more than 400,000 euros from three private investors who ended up suing Laporta and Oliver in the court of inquiry number 23 of Barcelona, ​​precisely, because they were not returned the money they had ceded with the agreement to receive 6% annual interest. Finally, he explained The confidential, the accused carried out extrajudicially the return of part of the money in exchange for the accused withdrawing the criminal actions. The two companies that collected the 200,000 euros and the 250,000 dollars, respectively, were Core Store, SL, domiciled at number 400 of Avinguda Diagonal in Barcelona since May 2019 (until then the domicile had been at number 469 of same street, Laporta’s office), and CSSB Limited, based in Hong Kong.

CSSB Limited is the company that controlled more than half of Reus Deportiu’s shares (57%) before disappearing due to financial problems. Oliver was the last responsible manager of the club. Beyond Reus, one of the projects this company had in 2016 was to invest in the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) club, which when Ramos signed the contract with CSSB Limited was competing in the Chinese Third Division. The director of the BIT between 2017 and 2021 was Bryan Bachner, today director of Barça’s international offices in Hong Kong and New York, while the current heads of the Barça legal and purchasing area, Pere Lluís Mellado and Joan Sentelles, they were part of the professional structure of Reus before of its collapse.

The version of those affected

The ARA was able to talk about the Albert Ramos case with Oliver, who signed the tennis player’s loan contract on behalf of CSSB Limited. “We offered him a way to pay for this, and we will find a way to resolve it,” explains the former Barça general manager, who adds that he is currently hospitalized. This newspaper also tried to contact President Laporta, but it was not possible. Instead, a person from his environment did respond, who was surprised by the events reported. Another of the people with whom the ARA has contacted is the current sporting vice-president of Barça, Rafa Yuste, who has preferred not to speak. Finally, Barça’s ex-treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín has not responded to messages or calls at the moment.