US Edition
Frankie Dettori in tax investigation over porn baron’s avoidance scheme
Three-time champion jockey says his previous tax advisers had assured him the structure it was using was approved by HMRC
Frankie Dettori has admitted he is in a “mess” with HMRC after losing a court bid to retain anonymity in a long-running tax avoidance case.
Dettori, who has ridden more than 3,300 career winners, said in a statement that he has sacked advisers who told him his tax plan was “approved” in the UK.
Papers were republished by the Upper Tribunal of the Royal Courts of Justice naming Dettori on Monday after his attempts to secure anonymity were thrown out.
The alleged tax avoidance scheme was originally devised by Paul Baxendale-Walker, who is described by Tax Policy Associates as “probably the UK’s most notorious tax avoidance scheme promoter”.
Baxendale-Walker became a soft-pornography entrepreneur after he was stuck off as a solicitor when a disciplinary tribunal ruled there was a conflict of interest in the advice he was offering clients regarding his own tax schemes.
Dettori is the latest of a string of high-profile names to face huge backdated bills over investments in companies that HMRC accuses of being deliberately set up for sheltering clients from tax.
Dettori has generated almost £160 million in career earnings. He is placed in 37th out of the top 50 highest-earning jockeys in the world. The 53-year-old said in a statement shared with Telegraph Sport: “A few years ago, I employed the services of professional specialist tax advisers to look after mine and my family’s financial affairs. A structure was created and I was told that it had been approved by HMRC.
“Years later HMRC is now challenging that structure. My former advisers have since been dismissed. My new advisers and management team are working hard to unravel the mess that I have been put in. They are also working closely with HMRC to resolve the matter as swiftly as possible.”
Dettori famously rode a ‘Magnificent Seven’ of all winners on the card at Ascot in September 1996 at odds of over 25,000-1. Last year he abandoned plans to retire, announcing he would continue his career in the United States.
Before moving to the US, he parted company with manager of 30 years Peter Burrell. It is not clear when Dettori was using the services of Baxendale-Walker, but HMRC welcomed the court’s decision to lift Dettori’s anonymity in the case.
An HMRC spokesperson said: “We welcome this decision, which represents an important win for the principle of open justice. We’re committed to ensuring everyone pays the right tax under the law, regardless of wealth or status.”
Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Policy Associates Ltd, has been following the case closely. “Amazing that Dettori/his advisers thought it was a good idea to buy a scheme from a struck-off solicitor and convicted fraudster who gave negligent advice and then went bankrupt. That’s Paul Baxendale-Walker. More on him here,” Neidle posted on X as the jockey’s anonymity in the case was lifted.
Baxendale-Walker subsequently acquired Bluebird TV, an adult film company, and began directing, as well as appearing in, a series of erotic films, as well as enjoying the company of a string of women he called his ‘hunny bunnies’.
At one stage he also owned the ‘lads’ mag’ Loaded and bought Paul Raymond Publications, including the men’s magazines Mayfair and Men Only.
Then, in 2012, he appeared to tire of his playboy-lifestyle and underwent several months of therapy for sex addiction.
Three-time champion jockey Dettori, meanwhile, had initially announced in December 2022 that last season would be his last. In his final year in Britain, he took just 126 rides. His 30 winners netted £5.8 million in prize money.
“This wouldn’t have suited me 10 years ago when I wanted to go out every night,” he told Telegraph Sport in October of a healthier-than-ever lifestyle he has enjoyed since switching to the US. “It’s completely different. Now Catherine [Dettori’s wife] and I eat at 5.30pm and are in bed by 8.30pm.”
Tax Policy Associates were among organisations to appeal for anonymity to be lifted in the case.
Dettori originally brought an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal against HMRC’s decision to deny him deductions on income tax. In 2019 he asked for his case to be paused and more than a year later asked not to be named and for his case to be heard in private. A judge in 2021 said that the “preliminary matter” could be heard in private, while a different judge in 2022 ruled that Mr Dettori should be anonymised.
HMRC brought a challenge and, in January this year, the more senior Upper Tribunal ruled there had been “material errors of law”, and overturned the decision to have some of the hearings in his case in private.
Dettori then made a bid to continue his anonymity, telling the tribunal that he was withdrawing the initial legal challenge over the tax deductions.
His lawyers argued that someone who has lost a bid to be kept anonymous should be able to withdraw their case without being named.
The Press Association, the Times, the Sun and non-profit Tax Policy Associates, as well as HMRC, opposed the jockey’s anonymity, saying that not being named should be the exception and only when justified.
In a judgment in November, Mr Justice Miles and Judge Thomas Scott ruled in favour of the media and HMRC, and on Monday, Dettori was named in the ruling.