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Craig Thomas Whyte
Born (1971-01-18) 18 January 1971 (age 54)
Nationality Scottish
Occupation Venture capitalist

Craig Thomas Whyte (born 18 January 1971) is a Scottish businessman. He is best known for his time as owner of the Scottish football club Rangers. His ownership ended in a difficult way for the club.

Craig Whyte first started in business with a company that rented out equipment. After that, he worked in security, making things, and property. In May 2011, he bought most of the shares in Rangers Football Club Plc from its main owner, David Murray. Later, in February 2012, he put the club into a special financial process called administration. Then, in July 2012, the club went into liquidation, which meant it had to close down its original company.

Early Life

Craig Whyte was born in Motherwell, Scotland. He went to school at Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow. When he was 15, Craig became interested in money and how businesses work. He even made over £20,000 by buying and selling shares before he finished school!

Business Career

Craig Whyte's first job was with his father's company, which rented out equipment. In 1990, he started his own equipment rental company called Whyte Hire. However, this company didn't do well and had to close down in the early 1990s. It owed about £300,000.

Craig recovered from this loss and started new businesses in security, manufacturing, and property. By 1997, when he was 26, he was one of Scotland's youngest millionaires. After selling most of his businesses, he moved to Monaco. When he came back to the UK, he settled in London. There, he became a venture capitalist. This means he invests in businesses that are just starting or need help.

The group he led in London, called Liberty Capital, focused on buying businesses that were having trouble. Their goal was to help these businesses get back on track and then sell them for a profit.

Owning Rangers FC

Craig Whyte was a big fan of Rangers Football Club his whole life. He even had a special viewing box at their stadium, Ibrox Stadium. In 2010, people started talking about him possibly buying the club, which was in debt. In April 2011, a deal for £28 million seemed possible. But this depended on agreements about the club's debt and a large tax bill.

Sir David Murray sold his main share in Rangers (85.3%) to a company called Wavetower Limited for just £1 on 6 May 2011. Wavetower Limited was owned by Liberty Capital, which was Craig Whyte's main company. The Rangers manager at the time, Walter Smith, was happy about the takeover. He thought it would bring stability to the club.

Craig Whyte said he was proud to own Rangers. He promised to invest £25 million into buying new players over five years. He said, "I'm here first and foremost because I'm a Rangers supporter. I also see a great opportunity and think that Rangers can be a great worldwide brand."

As part of his changes, Craig Whyte allowed women into the Rangers directors' room for the first time. This upset some older members of the club's board. Whyte wanted to get rid of people who weren't helping the club.

In October 2011, a TV show claimed that Craig Whyte had secretly acted as a director for a company called Re-Tex. This was during a seven-year period when he was not allowed to be a director. Craig Whyte denied all these claims. He said he was only a small shareholder in Re-Tex, not a director.

Rangers FC stopped working with the BBC after this program. The club said the show was unfair. Craig Whyte later started legal action against the BBC. An investigation by the Scottish Football Association later decided that Craig Whyte was not a suitable person to run a football club.

On 13 February 2012, Rangers announced they would enter administration. This happened the next day. This step was needed because Rangers had not paid about £9 million in taxes since Craig Whyte took over. It was found that Whyte had used money from future club earnings to buy the club, instead of using his own money.

On 13 May 2012, Craig Whyte sold his main share in Rangers for £2 to a group led by Charles Green. This happened after different groups tried to buy the club. Charles Green tried to make a deal with the club's creditors (people it owed money to). But the biggest creditor, the tax office, said no on 14 June 2012. This meant the club had to go into liquidation. Charles Green was then able to buy the business and assets of Rangers from the administrators.

Later Legal Actions

On 25 June 2012, the police were asked to investigate how Rangers was bought and how its money was managed afterwards.

A company called Ticketus, which had given Craig Whyte money to buy Rangers, successfully sued him in 2013. In September 2014, Craig Whyte was banned from being a company director for 15 years.

In November 2014, a warrant was issued for Craig Whyte's arrest. This was about alleged fraud during the purchase of Rangers. He was arrested in Mexico and later appeared in a Scottish court. He was released on bail.

Craig Whyte was arrested again in September 2015. He appeared in court with Charles Green. He was charged with conspiracy. However, on 6 June 2017, he was found not guilty of all charges after a long trial.

In October 2015, Craig Whyte was declared bankrupt in London. This happened because he did not pay the money he owed to Ticketus from the 2013 court case.

Personal Life

Craig Whyte used to own a historic building called Castle Grant, which is near Grantown-on-Spey in the Scottish Highlands. He reportedly spent £5 million on fixing up and improving the castle. In February 2012, a court ordered him to pay a roofing company for repairs done to the castle.

Castle Grant was put up for sale for over £1 million in April 2014. It was sold to buyers from another country in September of that year.

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