Forum Group figure Bill Papas appoints Louise Agostino to board of Xanthi FC despite arrest warrant

Bill Papas has been appointed managing director of Xanthi FC and made his girlfriend Louise Agostino a board director despite attempts by Westpac to seize the club and arrest Mr Papas.

Forum figure and Xanthi FC owner Bill Papas, second from right, at a recent match in the Greek city of Pierikos.

Forum figure Bill Papas’ girlfriend Louise Agostino has been named to the board of Xanthi FC despite attempts by Westpac to freeze the assets of the two and seize the club.

Mr Papas, who was club president, has also been confirmed as managing director.

The changes come as a suite of new board members were announced, after several long-term Xanthi FC directors quit the club.

Greek media site Thrakisports notes that Ms Agostino is a “resident of Thessaloniki” and appears to hold “a Greek identity card number but also to have a Greek tax registration number”.

This is despite Australian bank Westpac pursuing Mr Papas and Ms Agostino as part of allegations the two were key to a nearly $400m lease fraud scheme that has also captured Societe Generale and SMBC.

Mr Papas allegedly used $15m from the scheme to buy the Greek team Xanthi FC in 2020.

Westpac has attempted to freeze Mr Papas’ assets in Australia and the Hellenic republic and is seeking to seize control of the football club as part of its efforts to recover the allegedly defrauded funds.

The bank also secured freezing orders against Ms Agostino in late January after she left Australia, despite informing the court she was arranging Mr Papas’ return, and sold her apartment in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle.

Westpac alleges Ms Agostino was central to the fraud and must pay the bank $253m to clear the freezing order.

The move comes after the Greek Professional Sports Committee ruled that Mr Papas owned his club, Xanthi FC, despite providing evidence to Westpac that he had sold his stake.

The committee had ruled “there was no illegal transfer of the shares” and “the data so far do not show the illegal origin of the money, which was allocated for the increase of the share capital of PAE Xanthi”.

The decision by the committee and manoeuvres by Mr Papas to reshape the board of Xanthi FC come as he is seeking to raise €4.72m ($7.4m) through the issuance of new shares in the club.

The 4.31 million shares, valued at €95 each, would allow Mr Papas to scale back his ownership in the club.

However, a warrant has been issued for Mr Papas’ arrest after he breached freezing orders and allegedly transferred $720,000 to his cousin and Sydney data management company Our Kloud chief executive Eric Constantinidis.

Mr Constantinidis was the buyer of the Forum Group, which Mr Papas placed in administration before Westpac could force it into liquidation.