Ex-Portsmouth owner jailed for taking £5M from wife to purchase club

Looting some spare change from your wife for a bus fare is one thing, but Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim managed to lift £5 million from his better half to fund a takeover of a football club.

The 42-year-old has been sentenced to five years in a United Arab Emirates jail for using the stolen money to purchase Portsmouth in 2009, reports BBC Sport. Al Fahim owned the club for just six weeks before offloading it to Ali Al Faraj.

It's understood Al Fahim's wife discovered the £5 million was missing in 2009 when the returns she expected from a high-interest account did not arrive. The bank continually stalled in its responses to her, including when she asked to move her account in September 2011. Following a police investigation, it transpired the bank manager aided the theft, helping forge and use documents that allowed Al Fahim to receive the money. The bank manager also faces five years in jail.

Portsmouth was struggling to pay players and staff when Al Fahim took over, but he voiced an ambitious goal of being a top-eight club by 2016. He also brokered the Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover of Manchester City in 2008, but was quickly ushered behind the scenes after making unhelpful declarations of impending world domination.

He is quoted as saying he's fond of seeing his name and face in the news and has been guilty of name-dropping to show off his status.

"I have to go and pick up Antonio Banderas at 2 p.m. ... in my Lamborghini," he said to finish an interview with the Guardian's James Montague in October 2008.