Ex-JJB Sports chief executive Christopher Ronnie convicted for £1m fraud

The former JJB Sports chief executive Christopher Ronnie, 52, has been found guilty of fraud at Southwark Crown Court in London over undeclared payments of more than £1m that he received from suppliers.

Ronnie was chief executive between August 2007 and March 2009. His co-defendants, business partners David Ball and David Barrington – who both worked for two firms supplying stock to JJB – were convicted of helping to cover his tracks.

The case, which the Serious Fraud Office had been working on since 2009, centred on three large loans of several hundred thousand pounds each, which Ronnie received in 2008.

The court heard that he owed £11m to the Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer Friedlander, and agreed he would provide it with documents about his loans and assets. But he falsified information over these loans when he bought shares in JJB. The three will be sentenced on 12 December.