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| JJB Sports boss Christopher Ronnie jailed over £1m fraud | JJB Sports boss Christopher Ronnie jailed over £1m fraud |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The former chief executive of JJB Sports has been jailed for four years for taking £1m of backhanders in a "very greedy fraud". | The former chief executive of JJB Sports has been jailed for four years for taking £1m of backhanders in a "very greedy fraud". |
| Christopher Ronnie, 52, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, was found guilty in November of taking bungs from suppliers of the sportswear retailer in 2008. | |
| London's Southwark Crown Court heard he used the six-figure payments to buy property in Florida. | London's Southwark Crown Court heard he used the six-figure payments to buy property in Florida. |
| Wigan-based JJB Sports was dissolved with almost £150m of debts in November. | Wigan-based JJB Sports was dissolved with almost £150m of debts in November. |
| Ronnie was £11m in debt to Icelandic Bank Kaupthing Singer Friedlander when he took the payments from three suppliers. | |
| He had told the bank he would provide documents about his loans and assets but he falsified the information. | |
| 'Disgraceful breach' | |
| He received a payment of £650,000 in February 2008 from Performance Brands - a sports goods supplier. | |
| In June that year, he received $380,000 (£197,000) from another supplier Fashion and Sport. | |
| A third payment, again from Fashion and Sport, was made to Ronnie later in 2008, this time for $250,000 (£134,000). | |
| Ronnie, who did not give evidence in his own defence, was convicted of three counts of fraud and two of furnishing false information. | |
| Sentencing him, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said he had shown a "flagrant and disgraceful breach" of his duty as the company's chief executive. | |
| JJB Sports was founded by former professional footballer Dave Whelan in 1971. | |
| He sold up in 2007 and his shares in the firm were bought by Ronnie, who was chief executive at the firm until March 2009. |