Liverpool sponsors Standard Chartered 'accused of helping to fund terrorist groups'

Liverpool's main sponsors Standard Chartered have been accused of carrying out billions of dollars of transactions for funders of terrorist groups.

The bank company, who are one of the largest in the UK, have been Liverpool's main shirt sponsor since 2010.

The club penned a new contract in 2020, which is due to expire at the end of the 2026/27 season, with the deal worth more than £50 million a year.

But, according to a New York court filing, whistleblowers have claimed Standard Chartered allegedly conducted more than $100 billion worth of transactions for Iran-linked entities and terrorist organisations between 2008 and 2013.

Standard Chartered have been Liverpoo's man shirt sponsor since 2010. Image: Getty

The whistleblowers - Julian Knight and Robert Marcellus - were helped by the forensic investigator David Scantling, who examined the data and worked together to reveal 'transactions that were hidden', the court documents claim.

An independent expert has identified $9.6 billion of foreign exchange transactions with individual and companies designated by the US government as funding 'terror groups', including Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

In a statement, Standard Chartered said it disputes the claims made by the whistleblowers, saying that their previous allegations had been 'thoroughly discredited' by US authorities.

The British company said: "This filing is another attempt to use claims against the bank, following previous unsuccessful attempts.

"The false allegations underpinning it have been thoroughly discredited by the US authorities who undertook a comprehensive investigation into the claims and said they were ‘meritless’ and did not show any violations of US sanctions. We are confident the courts will reject these claims, as they have already done repeatedly."

SPORTbible have contacted Fenway Sports Group for comment.