A FOOTBALL coaching scheme that was based in Newport is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

Luis Michael Training (LMT), which was based at Leeway Industrial Estate, offered football-based apprenticeship schemes at colleges and football clubs around the UK.

The SFO made three arrests on Wednesday morning and searched a business property as well as the homes of a 52-year-old man from Chepstow, a 51-year-old man from Cardiff and a 29-year-old man from Southport.

All three men were arrested and questioned before being released on bail.

Around 2,000 teenagers enrolled on the scheme and were assessed and verified for NVQ programmes working in community sport, mainly through football clubs and coaching organisations.

While LMT is now defunct, its operations between 2009 and 2011 are being investigated.

It said it was looking at some £1.6 million worth of transactions.

The case was passed on to the SFO by Gwent Police last September and 52 SFO officers and 20 police officers were involved in Wednesday’s searches.