Four men in court over 2011 Rangers sale FOUR men have appeared at Glasgow Sheriff court and been charged in connection with the alleged fraudulent take over of Rangers Football Club in 2011. Three of the men worked for Duff & Phelps, the administrators appointed after the football club fell into insolvency while the fourth man, a lawyer, worked for Craig Whyte who later purchased the club from Sir David Murray. David Whitehouse, 49, Paul Clark, 50, David Grier, 53, who all worked for Duff & Phelps and Gary Withey, 50 made a private appearance in court yesterday having been in police custody over the weekend. They were all detained during dawn raids on November 14 and later arrested. All four men are charged with a fraudulent scheme. Withey, from Woking, also faces a charge under the Companies Act 2003, Whitehouse from Wilmslow and Clark from Esher, each face two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Grier, from Wokingham is also alleged to have attempted to pervert the course of justice. All of them made no plea or declaration when they made their appearance and bail was granted by sheriff Sam Cathcart. Whitehouse, Clark and Grier were employees of Duff & Phelps, the company which was appointed as the official administrator for Rangers Football Club. Withey worked for Whyte's London law firm Collyer Bristow before he took on a post with Rangers. The four men are expected to appear at court at a later date. On November 14, a warrant was issued for former Rangers owner Craig Whyte following an investigation into the clubs sale to him from Sir David Murray in 2011. Clark and Whitehouse, who were appointed as joint administrators, are alleged to have negotiated the purchase by Charles Green's Sevco consortium of Rangers assets in June 2012 with £5.5 million, which is believed to be in the form of a loan. It was reported in the media over the weekend that the Procurator Fiscal in Glasgow received a report that related to alleged "incidents" between January 2010 and November 2012, which includes a period of one year before Craig Whyte took over Rangers Football Club and also extended into the ownership of the club by the consortium owned by Charles Green. Craig Whyte is alleged to have completed the purchase of Rangers by selling off the commercial rights to three year's worth of season tickets for the club's games to Ticketus, a London-based ticket agency, who paid £24 million. It has been reported that the bulk of this money was used to pay off the club's debt of £18 million to the Lloyds Banking Group, which was a condition of the club's sale. Duff & Phelps had previously been accused of misconduct and were investigated by the Insolvency Practitioners Association over the issue of conflict of interest after complaints had been made about their appointment as the football club's administrators. However in June 2012 the IPA cleared the company after what was described as a "thorough investigation" that concluded that the firm had "complied with the relevant guidance." Over the weekend Duff & Phelps said three of their staff were being questioned over work done while they were employees of MCR Partners, before its takeover by Duff & Phelps in October 2011. A spokesman for the company said: "We believe that our work for Rangers was conscientious, thorough and properly performed in every respect. Duff & Phelps has actively co-operated with all relevant investigating authorities throughout this process. In addition, we have provided thorough reports on our role in the administration of Rangers Football Club to the Court of Session and the Insolvency Practitioners Association.