"No member of the Zingarevich family is an investor in the Fortress Sports Fund," the fund said in an e-mailed statement. "We have been asked by the Zingarevich family to make this completely clear."
The statement appeared to leave Everton chairman Bill Kenwright's bid to rescue the cash-strapped club in tatters. But the fund's chairman, Christopher Samuelson, said the fund would raise cash from other sources to buy the stake.
"The fund has every intention of continuing with the investment," he said. "We have a number of substantial investors."
"We would hope that Anton Zingarevich can remain assisting the fund as a manager," he added. "He is very knowledgeable."
Samuelson said Sunday that Anton Zingarevich, the 23-year-old son of Boris Zingarevich, a co-owner of Ilim Pulp, was one of three co-founders of the fund. He said he and leading sports agent Jerome Anderson were the other two, and that so far the fund had seven investors.
A spokesman for Ilim Pulp, Svyatoslav Bytchkov, said Monday that factions within Everton appeared to have been waving the Zingarevich family name in a battle to retain control of the club. He said that Anton had only been asked to help raise funds for the club, and, as a student at business school, did not have enough money of his own to make such an investment.
"The current president wanted to show the board that he is the good guy," Bytchkov said. "He wanted to show that he could bring in a crazy Russian who will invest as much money as the club needs. This was a PR campaign by people within the club who wanted to present something beautiful as fact."
Kenwright said that was not the case.
Bytchkov said Boris Zingarevich had told him that neither he nor anyone else in his family had any intention of making any investment in foreign sports, especially Everton.
He said Zingarevich was busy investing his cash in his business. "We have no reason to go into unknown territory," he said. "If we do that, we have to leave the country forever."
"You know the political situation in Russia," Bytchkov said.
… we have a small favor to ask. As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.
Remind me later.