Latest news with #Granovskaia
The Independent
14-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
High Court case over Kurt Zouma transfer commission to be stayed
A High Court claim between a football agent and a former director of Chelsea Football Club over the transfer of player Kurt Zouma will be paused for arbitration, a judge has said. Saif Alrubie brought legal action against Marina Granovskaia, claiming that he was owed commission for arranging the transfer and that she induced the breach of a contract between him and the west London club. The London court previously heard that Ms Granovskaia's position is there was no contract between Mr Alrubie and the club, and there was no breach. Mr Zouma transferred to West Ham in the summer of 2021 and the total transfer fee is disputed between Mr Alrubie and Ms Granovskaia. At a hearing last month, Kendrah Potts, for Ms Granovskaia, said the claim against Chelsea has gone to an out-of-court arbitration process and that the claim against her client should follow the same route. However, Jonathan Crystal, for Mr Alrubie, said in written submissions that it should be heard in public, adding that the transfer fee dispute has been a 'constant source of frustration' for his client. But in a judgment on Friday, Judge David Quest KC said that the High Court proceedings would be stayed to allow for arbitration. He said: 'I am satisfied that Ms Granovskaia has shown that she and Mr Alrubie are parties to the Rule K arbitration agreement and that the present claim for inducing breach of contract is a matter within the scope of the agreement, and that Mr Alrubie has not shown that the agreement is null, void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.' Mr Alrubie was ordered to pay Ms Granovskaia's costs, including £150,000 to be paid within 14 days.
Telegraph
14-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Agent ordered to pay costs to former Chelsea director after losing High Court Case bid
Football agent Saif Alrubie has lost his latest court battle with former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia and has been ordered to pay her £150,000 in costs. Alrubie had made a High Court claim for damages of £2,182,782 against Granovskaia over the transfer of Kurt Zouma from Chelsea to West Ham United. He dropped a case against Chelsea for £2,900,637.3612 last October, but the club offered to go to Football Association arbitration to clarify whether or not they are liable. A judge has now ruled the case be referred to FA arbitration, with Alrubie ordered to pay Granovskaia's court costs of £150,000, plus VAT, within 14 days. A spokesperson for Granovskaia said: 'We welcome today's High Court ruling in Ms Granovskaia's favour. Our position has always been that Mr Rubie's claim is baseless, but that if he wanted to pursue his unmeritorious claim, he should have done so in the proper forum, which the Court has confirmed is Rule K arbitration.' Alrubie was last year found not guilty at Southwark Crown Court of malicious communications sent to Granovskaia and is now seeking damages from her for the commission he believes he is owed over Zouma's transfer to West Ham in August 2021. A spokesperson for Alrubie said: 'Whilst we would have preferred our claim to be heard in open court, we're satisfied that the High Court judge confirmed that Marina Granovskaia is answerable in these proceedings in her own right. We look forward to pursuing our action for justice via the Rule K arbitration process.' At a High Court hearing in London last month, Granovskaia's barrister Kendrah Potts said that 'the evidence filed by Mr Alrubie in response to the application lays bare his primary motivation, which appears to be to achieve some form of vindication or retribution because he blames Ms Granovskaia for the criminal charge against him. The High Court is not a place for vendettas of that nature.' Ms Potts added that 'parallel High Court proceedings will waste time, money and court resources' and said that 'Mr Alrubie's deliberate efforts to avoid the binding agreement to arbitrate the breach of contract claim in order to have a public forum to seek retribution against CFC and/or Ms Granovskaia should not be entertained.'
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Agent dispute with ex-Chelsea director referred to FA
A judge has ruled the case between former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia and agent Saif Alrubie be referred to the Football Association for proceedings, which centre around Kurt Zouma's move from the Blues to West Ham in 2021, were the subject of a hearing in the High Court almost a fortnight is pursuing a case against Granovskaia, who was a leading figure during Roman Abramovich's reign at Stamford Bridge, for her role in the non-payment of commission the agent says he is owed from Zouma's received a fee of £29.1m when selling laws state an agent acting on behalf of a selling club is entitled to up to 10% of a transfer fee, which means Rubie would be owed close to £ most recent court hearing centred around whether the case would remain in the court system or be dealt with by an FA FA's agent regulations say disputes arising out of representation agreements without an international dimension should be "exclusively determined between the parties" under Rule was a Chelsea employee at the time of the transfer but has since left her position and no longer has an official role in left Stamford Bridge in 2022 following Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital's takeover, Granovskaia is no longer categorised as an FA participant, which Alrubie's side argue means the case should have remained a court could have meant Granovskaia had to disclose details that have so far remained confidential in relation to Zouma's may also have resulted in Chelsea having to comply with requests for information the court deemed relevant to the a ruling issued on Friday stipulated the case be dealt with by English football's governing body and confirmed Alrubie should pay Granovskaia's court costs - and £150,000 in account of those costs in 14 days.A spokesman for Alrubie said: "Whilst we would have preferred our claim to be heard in open court, we're satisfied that the High Court judge confirmed that Marina Granovskaia is answerable in these proceedings in her own right. We look forward to pursuing our action for justice via the Rule K arbitration process."A statement from Granovskaia's spokesperson said: "We welcome today's High Court ruling in Ms Granovskaia's favour. "Our position has always been that Mr Rubie's claim is baseless, but that if he wanted to pursue his unmeritorious claim, he should have done so in the proper forum, which the court has confirmed is Rule K arbitration."Last year, a jury cleared Alrubie of sending Granovskaia a threatening email in relation to the Zouma deal, after which he proceeded to open his own civil case.
