Tycoon Carson Yeung loses appeal, to go to jail for money laundering

HONG KONG - Birmingham City's former owner, who was sentenced to six years in prison for money laundering, had his appeal against his conviction rejected by a Hong Kong court Wednesday.

Carson Yeung, 55, was jailed last March in a case that gripped the southern Chinese city and fans of the English football club with its tales of unexplained dealings and financial transactions involving local businessmen and an alleged triad member.

Yeung was convicted on five charges of laundering HK$721 million (US$93 million).

"We dismiss the appeal," three judges of the city's court of appeal wrote in the judgment published on the judiciary website on Wednesday.

The judges in the verdict backed the ruling of a lower court judge who convicted Yeung.

"In making affirmative findings the judge considered all of the relevant evidence and did so in the appropriate way."

The case was adjourned until Friday to listen to Yeung's application for leave to appeal against sentence.

Yeung was charged in June 2011, two years after he bought the team.

He remains the largest shareholder in the club's holding company, according to the Hong Kong stock exchange website, despite resigning from all positions before the trial verdict.

Birmingham City - who were relegated from the Premiership in 2011, three months after winning the English League Cup -- have been in talks with potential bidders over the past few years.

Little known before his emergence in English football, hairdresser-turned-tycoon Yeung took control of Birmingham City in October 2009 in an £81 million ($123 million) takeover from David Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham United.