Three Rangers board members depart amid American takeover revolution
Rangers Football Club is now under American ownership following a completed takeover.
The club's board has been reshaped, with Graeme Park, Julian Wolhardt, and former chairman Alastair Johnston stepping down.
These roles will be filled by Americans Mark Taber, Andrew Clayton, and Gene Schneur.
Andrew Cavenagh takes over from Fraser Thornton as chairman.
Thornton, however, will continue to be part of the board.
Paarag Marathe, head of 49ers Enterprises, steps in as vice chairman.
Chief Executive Patrick Stewart, along with John Halsted and George Taylor, remain in their roles.
These changes signify a new era for the club, with a blend of familiar and new faces guiding its future.
Mark Taber, managing director at Great Hill Partners, a growth equity firm based in Boston, is one of the new board members.
Taber, who specialises in healthcare investments, has been on the boards of over a dozen healthcare companies.
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He is also a trustee of Boston Medical Centre's HealthNet health plan and a member of its finance committee.
Andrew Clayton, the co-founder and vice-chairman of ParetoHealth, is another new addition to the board.
ParetoHealth is a health insurance company founded by Andrew Cavenagh.
Clayton, who holds a degree in economics from Swarthmore College, serves on numerous business and philanthropic boards and committees.
Gene Schneur, a board member and co-owner of Leeds United, is the third new face.
The Florida-based businessman is the managing director and co-founder of SBV RE Investments LLC, a real estate firm specialising in multi-family residential properties.
Schneur was also a co-founder and leader of Omni New York LLC and Omni America LLC, which ranked among the United States' top developers of affordable housing.
Under his leadership, Omni expanded to more than 800 employees and developed or acquired 94 properties, comprising over 19,000 affordable housing units, with total transaction values exceeding $4 billion.
Before establishing Omni, Schneur worked as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky LLP in New York.
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In March, Matt Blair's firm registered to lobby on "pardon" issues for Juno Empire Inc., a Miami-based company that is identified in federal lobbying records as a "medical billing advocate." It's not clear what this company does or what its issue is, and there was no contact information available for Juno. Corcoran Partners did not return a request for comment. Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone also registered in February to lobby for Roger Ver, who is nicknamed "Bitcoin Jesus" and, if extradited from Spain, faces up to 109 years in prison for, among other things, allegations that he tried to evade nearly $50 million in tax payments. It's the first time Stone's firm, Drake Ventures, formally registered to lobby on pardon issues, records show. An attorney for Ver did not return a request for comment. Some lawyers also see new hope for their clients in Trump's willingness to issue pardons. Tim Parlatore, a former member of Trump's legal team, represented Adm. Robert Burke, who was convicted in May of bribery. Parlatore told NBC News that he had unsuccessfully attempted to get Justice Department leadership to reconsider the Burke case before it went to trial, and that he'd try to secure a pardon now that Burke has been convicted. "I think I have a great appeal for Burke, but will I go and ask for a pardon? Absolutely! You'd be crazy not to," he said. "The way that that case was investigated and presented, I believe, was fundamentally unfair." Parlatore said he wanted to "pursue all possible remedies" for his client. "I'll go to call people and try to figure this thing out, whether it's Ed Martin, Alice Johnson," he said, referring to Trump's pardon attorney and his more informal "pardon czar." "I just want to make sure that that gets in front of the right people to make a decision." The president's pardon power, a vestige of the British monarchy, is largely unchecked. Trump isn't the first person to face criticism for controversial pardons. But the perception that Trump is leaning into rewarding supporters was boosted last week when Martin, Trump's current pardon attorney, openly signaled the political motivations for the pardon given to Scott Jenkins. The former Virginia sheriff was facing 10 years in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of taking $75,000 in return for doling out law enforcement authority to local businessmen, as well as two undercover FBI special agents. "No MAGA left behind," Martin posted on X after the pardon was announced. One staffer familiar with the pardon process said Martin and the administration were trying to "undo the damage from weaponization," often choosing to pardon people they felt were unfairly targeted. "You have a president who's going to exercise his presidential powers that he has from the Constitution, whether or not there's some guidebook," they said. "He does it on trade, he does it on immigration, and he does it everywhere." That staffer and other Trump allies argue that it was Biden's use of the power that has set the precedent under which they are currently operating. Biden pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 8,000 people, including to his son Hunter, who was set to be sentenced on federal gun charges just weeks before the pardon was issued. On the way out of office, he also issued pre-emptive pardons for some members of his family, worried Trump would try to prosecute them. An administration official called Biden's pardon decisions an "absolutely earth-shattering departure from presidential norms." Trump supporters argue the potential hit to a president's reputation that previously existed for the perception of politicizing the clemency process is no longer there. "It's become easier after Hunter's pardon. Long gone are the days of an eleventh-hour pardon. It has become more transactional," the Trump ally and lobbyist said. Beyond increased payments to lobbying firms to help secure pardons, family members of those seeking pardons have also found it useful to amplify their platform by going on conservative media outlets that Trump is known to watch or appear in MAGA-friendly spaces. Savannah Chrisley, for example, spoke at the Republican National Convention and suggested her parents were targeted for being conservative. During a press conference Friday, she said it was a "misconception" that she "either paid for a pardon or slept for a pardon" for her parents. She said she simply went to Washington and made sure she was in "the right room at the right time" and "begged for meetings." "Many people have come on my OAN program to make their case for pardons," former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who became a news anchor for One America News Network after Trump unsuccessfully tried to install him as attorney general, told NBC News. "Some have not. Some might get granted in the future. I trust President Trump's judgment." Gaetz says he himself has not officially focused on pardon work but said his show, like others, can help amplify a pardon-seeker's case. "I've covered pardons as a journalist," he said. "One way people get on the pardon radar is coming on my show and making their case on other media President Trump is known to watch."
