Former Australia rugby star Rocky Elsom faces an international arrest warrant after a conviction for embezzlement in France. Elsom, the ex-skipper of Australia's national team, was found guilty of forgery and misappropriating 700,000 euros, and sentenced to five years imprisonment by a court in Narbonne. (More Sports News)
Elsom was president of RC Narbonne, one of France's most prestigious clubs, in 2015-16. He was convicted in absentia.
The 41-year-old was recently quoted as saying in a Sunday Times report that he was living in the Irish capital Dublin. The British newspaper report had Elsom saying that he was coaching at the Catholic University School, a private school for boys in Dublin, and that he planned to live in the city until December.
Elsom played for Leinster Rugby in the late 2000s and helped the team win the Heineken Cup, Europe's top club rugby tournament, in 2009. A sporting celebrity in Ireland, he also appeared 75 times for Australia's national team, nicknamed the Wallabies, between 2005 and 2011. After his retirement, Elsom was part of a consortium that bought RC Narbonne.
The French court convicted Elsom of abusing corporate assets and forging documents during his time as president of the Narbonne club, local media reports stated.
Elsom made a "completely unjustified" payment of 79,000 euros to a former coach and handed a monthly salary of 7,200 euros to an Australian resident who "never came to Narbonne", according to a lawyer involved in the case, Patrick Tabet, as quoted by Ouest-France newspaper.
Back in 2018, the club was placed into administration and relegated to lower leagues.
The judge gave a harsher jail term than the two years sought by prosecutors. Tabet added that the former Wallabies star was also ordered to pay back some 705,000 euros.
