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The Analysis Series: A recap on the status of Josh Wander, 777 Partners et al

Paul Quinn

July 1st, 2026

I was asked to provide research on 777 Partners for confidential reasons, here’s some  (not all) of the findings in the form of a recap of what was without doubt Everton’s darkest times, orchestrated and promoted by our former owner Farhad Moshiri. It was only two years ago that we faced what was an existential crisis…..

UNITED STATES v. JOSHUA WANDER

SEC v. Wander, et al.  777 Partners LLC

(S.D.N.Y.)

Complete Timeline, Allegations, Filings Status and Wider Context

Compiled from federal court dockets (PACER/RECAP/CourtListener), DOJ/FBI/SEC releases, and financial and football-industry press. All allegations described herein are, unless stated otherwise, unproven claims made by prosecutors, regulators or civil litigants and should be treated as allegations only. This document does not constitute legal advice.

Summary

Joshua (Josh) Wander is the co-founder and former Managing Partner of 777 Partners LLC, a Miami-based private investment firm that built an aggressive, debt-fuelled global portfolio spanning structured settlements, aviation, media and, most visibly, a multi-club football ownership empire that included Genoa CFC (Italy), Standard Liège (Belgium), Hertha BSC (Germany), CR Vasco da Gama (Brazil), Red Star FC (France), and minority stakes in Sevilla FC (Spain) and Melbourne Victory (Australia), and which came close to acquiring Everton FC before that deal collapsed in 2024.

On 16 October 2025, Wander was criminally indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on four felony counts, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and securities fraud, arising from an alleged scheme to defraud 777 Partners’ private lenders and investors of more than $500 million. 

On the same day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a parallel civil enforcement action (SEC v. Wander et al., 1:25-cv-08565, S.D.N.Y., assigned to Judge Victor Marrero) against Wander, co-founder Steven Pasko, former CFO Damien Alfalla, and the entities 777 Partners LLC and 600 Partners LLC, alleging a $237 million fraudulent preferred equity offering.

Alfalla pleaded guilty on 14 October 2025 and is cooperating with the government; he and Pasko have since each entered consent judgments in the SEC’s civil case (16 December 2025 and 1 April 2026 respectively), effectively resolving the SEC matter as to those two defendants without trial. Wander, by contrast, is contesting both the criminal indictment and the SEC civil complaint. As of the most recent docket activity reviewed for this report (18 May 2026), Wander’s motion to dismiss the SEC’s civil complaint is fully briefed and awaiting decision, and the presiding judge has stayed civil discovery in its entirety pending resolution of the parallel criminal case, a standard and telling procedural move signalling the criminal case is being treated as the lead proceeding.

Key diligence headline

This is a live, unresolved federal matter. Wander has not been convicted of any crime and denies wrongdoing through counsel, who has characterised the case as “a business dispute dressed up as a criminal case.” However, the government’s position is substantially reinforced by (i) a cooperating former CFO who has already pleaded guilty, (ii) two co-defendants (Pasko, Alfalla) who have settled the SEC’s civil claims by consent judgment without contesting them at trial, and (iii) a pre-existing, evidentially detailed private RICO lawsuit (Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP v. Wander et al., filed May 2024) that first surfaced the core double-pledging allegations later adopted by prosecutors and the SEC. All factual allegations below are, unless stated otherwise, unproven claims from an indictment, a civil complaint, or litigation filings.

 

A reminder, who is Josh Wander and what was 777 Partners?

Joshua Wander (44 as at the October 2025 indictment) co-founded 777 Partners in 2015 as a Miami-based private investment firm. Its original and core business was underwriting and financing structured settlements, arrangements under which personal injury or lawsuit claimants receive compensation via periodic payments rather than a lump sum. 777 financed its purchases of these settlement receivables using credit facilities from private lenders, secured (i.e. collateralised) against the future payment streams and cash the firm held.

From around 2018, and accelerating from 2021, Wander directed 777’s expansion far beyond this core business into higher-risk, less predictable sectors: budget airlines (including Australia’s Bonza, and Canada’s Flair Airlines), a film/streaming platform, insurance and reinsurance vehicles, and, the aspect of most relevance to football finance observers,  a rapidly assembled multi-club ownership (MCO) portfolio. Between 2021 and 2023, 777 acquired majority or full control of Genoa CFC (Italy, 2021), Standard Liège (Belgium, 2022), CR Vasco da Gama (Brazil, 2022, the largest transaction in Brazilian football history at the time), Red Star FC (France), and a 64.7% stake in Hertha BSC (Germany, 2023, though German football’s 50+1 ownership rule prevented full control), alongside minority positions in Sevilla FC (Spain) and Melbourne Victory (Australia), plus non-football sports assets including the London Lions basketball franchise and a large minority stake in the British Basketball League.

In September 2023, 777 agreed to acquire Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% shareholding in Everton FC, the deal that brought the firm to sustained UK football-finance scrutiny, including my own at the time. 

The Everton deal was never completed: by April 2024, with 777-owned Australian airline Bonza having entered voluntary administration and mounting legal and financial pressure from lenders, Everton engaged insolvency advisers Teneo, and almost everyone associated with the club were insistent that Moshiri terminate the agreement. The Premier League had granted 777 conditional approval under its Owners’ and Directors’ Test subject to a set of conditions and a deadline; that deadline (end of May 2024) passed without the conditions being met, and the agreement lapsed. Everton was ultimately sold to the Friedkin Group instead.

Removal as managing partner and collapse of the group

Wander and Pasko were removed from their managing partner roles at 777 Partners in May 2024 amid the deepening financial crisis, replaced by restructuring specialists from B. Riley (Ian Ratner and Ronald Glass) tasked with an operational wind-down and asset disposal process. 

Genoa was sold in December 2024 to Romanian businessman Dan Șucu; Standard Liège was subsequently sold by 777’s creditor A-Cap to a buying consortium; Melbourne Victory’s 777-linked 20% stake was divested by A-Cap in March 2025; and 777 lost effective control of Vasco da Gama after a Brazilian court suspended the takeover contract in a preliminary ruling in May 2024 amid non-payment disputes. 

777’s own offshore reinsurance vehicle, 777 Re, was placed under the administrative control of the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Complete case timeline

Date Event
Sept 2023 777 Partners agrees to acquire Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in Everton FC; Premier League grants conditional approval subject to conditions and a deadline.
Apr 2024 777-owned airline Bonza enters voluntary administration; Everton engages Teneo as insolvency advisers amid concerns over 777’s ability to fund the club.
May 2024 Moshiri under huge pressure to terminate the 777 deal; Premier League’s conditions/deadline lapses unmet and the takeover agreement dies; Wander and Pasko removed as 777 managing partners, replaced by B. Riley restructuring executives Ian Ratner and Ronald Glass; Vasco da Gama takeover contract suspended by Brazilian court.
May 2024 Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP and Leadenhall Life Insurance Linked Investments Fund PLC file a private civil RICO and fraud lawsuit in SDNY (Leadenhall v. Wander et al., 1:24-cv-03453, Judge John G. Koeltl), naming Wander, Pasko, Kenneth King (A-Cap), 777 Partners LLC, 600 Partners LLC and numerous affiliated entities, alleging double-pledging of collateral and fraudulent inducement.
Oct 2024 777’s financial collapse became public; Genoa, Standard Liège and other club assets put up for sale/transferred to creditor control.
Dec 18, 2024 Genoa CFC sold to Romanian businessman Dan Șucu.
Jan 16, 2025 Leadenhall v. Wander civil docket shows the case terminated (per CourtListener docket entry), status/outcome (e.g. settlement) should be confirmed against the underlying PACER record before relying on this as a final resolution.
Mar 2025 A-Cap divests the 777-linked 20% stake in Melbourne Victory.
Oct 14, 2025 Damien Alfalla, former CFO of 777 Partners, pleads guilty before U.S. District Court in SDNY and begins cooperating with federal investigators.
Oct 16, 2025 DOJ/FBI/HSI unseal a criminal indictment against Joshua Wander in SDNY (conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud); Wander surrenders to federal agents and is presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang. Same day, the SEC files SEC v. Wander et al. (1:25-cv-08565) in SDNY against Wander, Pasko, Alfalla, 777 Partners LLC and 600 Partners LLC, alleging a $237 million fraudulent preferred equity offering; case assigned to Judge Victor Marrero.
Nov 17–26, 2025 Waivers of service executed for Alfalla, 600/777 Partners LLC, Pasko and Wander in the SEC civil case.
Dec 9–15, 2025 Defence counsel enter appearances for Pasko, Wander (Jordan Estes, Michael Martinez, Samuel Raymond of a defence team) and 777/600 Partners LLC (Daniel Newman); multiple extension requests to answer are granted by Judge Marrero.
Dec 15, 2025 Wander’s counsel files a pre-motion letter to the SEC flagging an anticipated motion to dismiss the civil complaint, attaching sealed exhibits (a credit facility document and an investor presentation).
Dec 16, 2025 SEC consent judgment entered against Damien Alfalla, permanent injunction against future securities-law violations and from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer or sale of any security (other than for his own personal account); Alfalla terminated as an active defendant.
Dec 22, 2025 SEC files a letter opposing Wander’s pre-motion letter on the anticipated motion to dismiss.
Feb 13, 2026 777 Partners LLC, 600 Partners LLC, Alfalla, Pasko and Wander jointly file an Answer to the SEC’s complaint with a jury demand (filed on the docket, though this appears to have been superseded in substance by Wander’s subsequent motion to dismiss).
Feb 19–24, 2026 Judge Marrero directs Wander to confirm whether he still intends to press the motion to dismiss; court sets a formal supplemental briefing schedule at the parties’ request.
Mar 27, 2026 Wander formally files his Motion to Dismiss the SEC’s civil complaint, with a supporting memorandum of law and a declaration from his counsel Jordan Estes attaching an investor presentation and a subscription agreement as exhibits.
Apr 1, 2026 SEC consent judgment entered against Steven Pasko,  permanent injunction from participating in securities issuance/offer/sale (personal-account trading excepted); Pasko terminated as an active defendant. Notably, Pasko’s judgment records that he did not admit or deny the complaint’s allegations except as to jurisdiction.
May 1, 2026 SEC files its Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Wander’s motion to dismiss.
May 11, 2026 Judge Marrero grants the government’s motion to intervene in the civil case and orders that civil discovery is stayed in its entirety pending completion of the parallel criminal case against Wander, a significant procedural marker confirming the criminal case is proceeding as the primary track.
May 18, 2026 Wander files his Reply Memorandum of Law in further support of the motion to dismiss. This is the most recent substantive docket entry identified in the SEC civil case as of the date of this report (1 July 2026); the motion to dismiss is now fully briefed and awaiting the court’s ruling.

 

Note on the parallel criminal docket: the criminal case (United States v. Wander) sits on SDNY’s criminal docket and was not fully retrievable via the public CourtListener/RECAP index at the time of this report’s preparation; publicly reported detail is limited to the unsealing of the indictment, Wander’s presentment before Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang on 16 October 2025, and defense counsel’s public denial of wrongdoing. No arraignment plea, trial date, or bail conditions were confirmed in the open sources reviewed. This should be verified directly against the SDNY criminal docket (PACER) or via SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, which is prosecuting the case (Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marguerite B. Colson, Sarah Mortazavi and Alexandra Rothman).

The criminal indictment (United States v. Wander, SDNY)

Charges

Charge Statute Maximum sentence
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud 18 U.S.C. § 1349 20 years
Wire fraud 18 U.S.C. § 1343 20 years
Conspiracy to commit securities fraud 18 U.S.C. § 371 / 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) 20 years
Securities fraud 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b); 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5 20 years

 

As alleged in the indictment (all allegations, not proven facts): Wander, together with Alfalla and others, obtained nearly $500 million from 777 Partners’ lenders and investors by 

The government’s theory, as summarised in the FBI’s announcement, is that Wander used 777 Partners as, in effect, an unauthorised personal financing vehicle: restricted funds contractually earmarked to protect structured-settlement beneficiaries and secured lenders were instead diverted to fund 777’s aggressive, speculative expansion into airlines, streaming and international football clubs, including Sevilla FC and Genoa CFC specifically named in the FBI’s release. HSI Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel characterised the alleged conduct as putting forth “an illusion of stability that was a years-long house of cards.”

Procedural status

Wander surrendered to federal agents on the morning of 16 October 2025 and was presented that afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang. The case is being prosecuted by SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. No further criminal-docket detail (arraignment plea, bail conditions, scheduling order, or trial date) was available in the open-source and RECAP materials reviewed for this report; this is a clear next step for direct PACER verification.

The SEC Civil Enforcement Action (SEC v. Wander et al., 1:25-cv-08565, S.D.N.Y.)

Core allegations

The SEC’s complaint alleges that between January 2021 and May 2024, Wander, Pasko and Alfalla fraudulently solicited approximately $237 million from 13 investors in a preferred equity offering jointly issued by 777 Partners LLC and 600 Partners LLC. 

The defendants allegedly represented to investors that the businesses were earning, and would continue to earn, “substantial positive net income” sufficient to pay a 10% annual dividend, when in fact, per the complaint, the companies were in a “severe and worsening liquidity crisis” with no realistic prospect of generating income sufficient to meet that obligation. The SEC brought the case in federal court (rather than as an internal administrative proceeding), a charging approach consistent with recent U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence constraining agency in-house adjudication.

Case resolution as to Alfalla and Pasko

Both co-defendants other than Wander have now resolved the SEC’s civil claims against them by consent judgment, without contesting the allegations at trial:

Wander’s contested defence

Wander is the only remaining actively litigating defendant in the SEC action (777 Partners LLC and 600 Partners LLC, as corporate entities, remain nominal defendants but appear to be moving in step with Wander’s position; their own answer/response posture should be separately verified).

His counsel, Jordan Estes, filed a fully briefed motion to dismiss on 27 March 2026, with the SEC’s opposition filed 1 May 2026 and Wander’s reply filed 18 May 2026. As of this report, the motion is pending decision before Judge Victor Marrero.

Notable procedural development: discovery stay

On 11 May 2026, Judge Marrero granted the government’s motion to intervene in the civil case and ordered that all civil discovery be stayed in its entirety until the parallel criminal case against Wander concludes. This is a standard and common step in cases with parallel criminal and civil tracks, used to prevent a defendant from being forced to choose between waiving Fifth Amendment protections in civil discovery or losing the civil case by default, and to prevent civil discovery from being used to circumvent the more limited disclosure rules in criminal proceedings. Practically, it confirms that the criminal case is now the operative track and that the civil case’s ultimate resolution (including any final ruling on the pending motion to dismiss) is likely to be paced by, or deferred behind, developments in the criminal matter.

 

The Leadenhall Capital Partners Civil RICO action (precursor litigation)

The federal criminal and SEC cases did not emerge in isolation. In May 2024, roughly seventeen months before the criminal indictment, London-headquartered insurance-linked securities manager Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP and its Leadenhall Life Insurance Linked Investments Fund PLC filed a civil action in SDNY (Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP v. Wander et al., 1:24-cv-03453, Judge John G. Koeltl) against Wander, Pasko, Kenneth King (who controls 777 lender/creditor Advantage Capital Holdings LLC, “A-Cap”), 777 Partners LLC, 600 Partners LLC, and numerous affiliated special-purpose entities (Dorchester Receivables II LLC, Insurety Agency Services LLC, Insurety Capital LLP, Insurety Servicing LLC, Signal Medical Receivables LLC, Signal SML 4 LLC, Signal Servicing LLC, Splcss III LLC, SuttonPark Capital LLC and SuttonPark Servicing LLC).

The Leadenhall complaint alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), fraudulent inducement and breach of contract, centring on the same double-pledging conduct later mirrored in the criminal indictment: 

Leadenhall alleged that collateral pledged to secure its credit facility with 777-affiliated entities was, in fact, already encumbered, non-existent, or double-pledged simultaneously to another lender (reported to be Credigy). Civil filings in the broader litigation referenced more than 1,600 individual assets, valued at approximately $185 million, alleged to have been double-pledged across at least two lenders.

Leadenhall’s complaint also introduced third-party entanglement by naming Kenneth King and A-Cap, alleging A-Cap held a first-priority “all-asset lien” and exercised extensive operational control over 777 Partners, which Leadenhall’s filings suggest may have compounded 777’s inability to meet its obligations.

 CourtListener’s docket record shows this case as terminated on 16 January 2025; the underlying reason (settlement, dismissal, or transfer) was not confirmed in the sources reviewed and should be verified directly against the PACER docket before being cited as a final resolution. 

Update* Please note: from tlgcommunications.com the original CourtListener docket record was inaccurate as the case hasn’t been terminated. We reached out to them today (2nd July 2026) and they updated to remove the “terminated” tag:

Following the October 2025 criminal indictment, Leadenhall’s CEO Luca Albertini publicly stated the indictment “corroborate[s] and reinforce[s] the strength and seriousness of the extensive claims Leadenhall brought to light in May 2024,” and confirmed Leadenhall’s intention to continue pursuing recovery through civil channels in parallel with the criminal case.

Wider context: the A-Cap / Insurance and the “Bermuda Triangle” structure

777 Partners’ collapse has become a case study cited by football-finance and insurance-industry commentators for a specific and, per some analysts, replicable financing structure sometimes described as a “Bermuda Triangle” model: tapping premiums from U.S.-regulated life and annuity insurers (owned or controlled by affiliated entities such as A-Cap and SILAC), channelling that capital through offshore reinsurance vehicles largely outside direct U.S. regulatory visibility, and deploying it into high-risk, illiquid trophy assets,  in 777’s case, football clubs, budget airlines and a fleet of aircraft.

Independent forensic accountant and certified fraud examiner Tom Gober, commenting publicly on the case, has stated that 777 is “definitely not” an isolated example of this structure, citing broader industry data showing more than 40% of U.S. life insurer reserves were transferred to offshore reinsurers in 2023 alone, a 26% increase since 2016. 

At least one U.S. state insurance regulator reportedly declared three insurers affiliated with the 777 structure to be insolvent and in need of rehabilitation after they had funnelled over $2.1 billion into 777-affiliated investments, including the football clubs, and received what was described as “virtually no return.” Reporting indicates this regulatory dispute went to mediation and was later settled out of court; the specific terms were not independently confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Football finance academic Kieran Maguire (University of Liverpool), commenting on the case, described 777’s conduct as effectively “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, moving assets and cash balances between related entities to create a false impression of available liquidity. UEFA has separately and repeatedly identified multi-club ownership structures generally as a threat to the integrity of competition and to the global player-trading market (which UEFA and other bodies estimate at over $10 billion annually), and the 777 case is now widely cited in that policy debate as the leading cautionary example, independent of the football-integrity concerns (conflicts of interest, coordinated transfer dealing) that MCO structures raise even absent fraud.

Everton FC:

As set out above, 777 Partners came close to acquiring Everton FC in 2023–2024 before the deal collapsed. Reporting at the time (including my own contemporaneous coverage at theesk.org – please place 777 in this website’s search box) tracked 777’s deteriorating financial position in parallel with the takeover process. The Premier League never formally rejected the deal under its Owners’ and Directors’ Test; rather, it imposed pre-completion conditions and a deadline that 777 failed to satisfy, causing the preliminary agreement with Moshiri to lapse on its own terms.

Everton’s current owner, the Friedkin Group, separately provided bridge financing to Everton during the 777 negotiation period (reported at around £200 million), which was subsequently repaid once the Friedkin Group itself completed its acquisition of the club. Community discussion following the October 2025 indictment has raised the question of whether Everton or its then/current ownership could carry any residual proceeds-of-crime or clawback exposure connected to funds that flowed through or from 777 during the aborted takeover period; My own contemporaneous response to that question noted that I was not privy to the necessary detail to confirm this definitively, but that it was a reasonable assumption the Friedkins/Everton no longer carry that potential liability, particularly if the bridge loan was independently sourced and properly repaid. 

This remains, in the absence of any specific public allegation naming Everton or the Friedkin Group as a target of either the criminal or civil proceedings, a residual due-diligence question rather than a live legal exposure, no source reviewed for this report identifies Everton FC, Farhad Moshiri, or the Friedkin Group as a defendant, target, or named party in any of the proceedings summarised above.

Diligence note

None of the criminal indictment, the SEC civil complaint, or the Leadenhall RICO suit name Everton FC, Farhad Moshiri, or the Friedkin Group as a party or target. The Everton connection is contextual and reputational (777’s near-acquisition, and the wider MCO/ownership-vetting debate it has fuelled) rather than a direct legal nexus, based on the sources reviewed. Any residual proceeds-of-crime question relating to the historic Friedkin bridge loan and its repayment would need dedicated corporate/insolvency legal advice and is outside the scope of this research report.

 

Summary

What is proven / undisputed

What remains contested / unresolved

Principal sources

Disclaimer: This article summarises allegations made in an indictment and civil complaints, together with associated court filings and press reporting. None of the individuals named should be understood to have been convicted of, or found civilly liable for, the conduct alleged unless expressly stated (as with the Alfalla and Pasko SEC consent judgments, which resolved the SEC’s claims against them without a contested trial). This article does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the primary court record, which should be obtained directly via PACER for any formal, regulatory or legal purpose.

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