Town have issued a statement announcing that new investor Michael Anderson will not now be taking a place on the board of the club after a national newspaper report revealed that the 52-year-old had previously been involved at Aldershot and Kettering in the early 1990s.
According to the Daily Mail, Anderson was in charge of both clubs when they suffered serious financial problems, Aldershot dropping out of the Football League in 1992 after failing to fulfil their fixtures and Kettering going into administration.
Chairman David Sheepshanks was unaware of Anderson's previous involvement in football when questioned yesterday: "I'm gobsmacked. I'm 99 per cent certain this isn't the case and he's been vetted as right and proper to invest in Ipswich."
However, a statement from the club in the wake of the report confirms Anderson's previous involvement in football: "Michael Anderson has informed us of his brief involvement in two football clubs in the early 90s (Aldershot and Kettering Town) and the fact that he was encouraged to invest on the basis of false information. In fact, he advises us that it was he who called the police to investigate the irregularities that he discovered at Aldershot.
"He has assured us that there has been no wrongdoing on his part at any time and regrets that he did not reveal this information during the extensive interview process that we undertook.
"Before being accepted as a director we took references and checks both through lawyers and accountants, which gave him a clean bill of health. He has also signed the new 'fit and proper person' certificate as required both by the Football League and ourselves.
"After satisfying these checks we accepted Michael's substantial investment in the club in return for a 15% equity stake and offered him a seat on the board."
Sheepshanks says that despite Anderson's involvement at the other clubs, there is nothing to suggest any misconduct: "Although very disappointed that we were not made aware of Michael's previous involvement in football, despite our extensive interview process, we have actually seen no proof of any wrongdoing on his part, indeed he claims the opposite.
"He has made a substantial and irrevocable investment in the club in the hope that he can fulfil his ambition to be involved in professional football at this level. However, in order to minimise embarrassment, Michael has quite properly offered not take up his directorship that had yet to be ratified and we have accepted this until the matter is cleared up as I hope it quickly will be. His investment remains in the club.
"This is a very unfortunate turn of events but must not detract from the good news of the week regarding the club's improving financial position and our investment in the playing squad. All attentions are very much focussed on the match against Sheffield United."
TWTD and members of the Ipswich Town Ist committee have been looking into Anderson's background since news of his investment in the club, which we believe to be in the region of £500,000, broke on Tuesday.
The club's announcement of his appointment described him as the "group president of Flairford, a company that supplies pharmaceutical products to health organisations and institutions across America", but Flairford, only registered in March 2005, is just one of a number of similar Florida-based companies in which Anderson is involved.
Along with business partner Brian Green, Anderson is a director of Meds Global Inc, Medipharm Medcenter Inc, Medcenter Inc, Medi-Pharm RX Inc and MSE Pharmacy Inc.
Medi-Pharm RX Inc are a supplier to Norcoworldwide, who trade online as www.norcoworldwide.com, both of which share the same address as Flairford. Medi-Pharm lists its directors as Brian Green and Michael Boxted. We understand that Boxted (sometimes spelt Boxstead) is a name which has often been used by Anderson.
MSE Pharmacy Inc lists Lisa St Peter as a director until 2004. St Peter, from Carnegie, Pennsylvania, is currently awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to 112 charges of systematic and deliberate fraud and tax evasion associated with her ownership of Pennsylvania-based pharmaceuticals businesses between 1998 and 2002.
Michael Boxted, or Lord Michael Boxted as he is identified by the St Petersburg Times, became involved in youth soccer in Tampa back in 1995, hooking up with coach Tony Paris who claims a spell playing for Town, which we can't recall, in a subsequent biography at St Leo University in Florida.
Boxted is reported to have funded the academy and to have previously "owned European soccer teams."
We have supplied this information to the club.