Rangers lose EBT case appeal as £250,000 fine looms

RANGERS have been ordered to pay £250,000 after failing in a bid to reverse a penalty handed down by the SPFL for failing to declare EBT side letters.

The punishment was originally handed down to the oldco by Lord Nimmo Smith in 2013, but three High Court judges – gathered at an independent SFA tribunal – has told the club it is liable for the fine.

The club was ruled not to have gained an unfair sporting advantage from the controversial tax avoidance scheme – the club kept its titles won during Sir David Murray’s tenure, when the EBTs were in place.

But in the unlikely event Rangers lodge a further appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the club will have no choice but to pay the fine.

Gleaned from a senior SPFL source, the Daily Record also said the newco had agreed in principle to assume liability for the fine as part of an agreement to play in the third division following the oldco’s collapse four years ago.

Rangers did not comment on the story.

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