POLICE last night formally charged George Reynolds, the former chairman of Darlington Football Club, with money laundering.

The 68-year-old will appear in court later this month, alongside his cousin Richard Tennick, 58, and 43-year-old personal assistant, Ian Robinson, who are accused of the same crime.

The ex-Quakers supremo has also been charged with further financial offences.

Detectives charged the trio after they answered bail at Bishop Auckland police station yesterday.

They were arrested earlier this year when officers swooped on a car travelling through High Etherley, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

An officer from the Regional Assets Recovery Team, based at the Durham Police headquarters, and several other police officers were involved in the operation, carried out on June 14.

They recovered £500,000 from the vehicle and held the men on suspicion of money laundering, before releasing them on bail.

Last night, Durham Police confirmed to The Northern Echo that all three had been charged.

A police spokesman said: "Three men - one a 68-year-old, another aged 58 and a third aged 43 - answered bail at Bishop Auckland police station.

"All three were interviewed and have now been charged with money laundering offences. These relate to the seizure of £500,000 on June 14 this year.

"The three men, two of them from the south-west Durham area and a third from North Yorkshire, have each been charged with two offences of conspiracy to launder money. The older man faces further charges of evasion of a liability, attempted evasion of a liability and another charge of money laundering, under the Proceeds of Crime Act."

All three were released on police bail and will appear at a hearing at Bishop Auckland Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, November 24.

Following his arrest in June, Mr Reynolds protested his innocence, saying both he and the police knew he was "whiter than white".

He said at the time that a deal between him and the Sterling Consortium, which took charge of the football club at the end of May, included the financier buying his lavish Witton Hall home at Witton-le-Wear.

He said a solicitors' firm representing Sterling, issued him with a bankers' draft in part payment for the property.

Mr Reynolds said Mr Robinson had travelled to Leeds to collect the draft and the money was deposited at the Darlington branch of the Co-operative Bank.

Mr Reynolds said he later went to the bank where he simply withdrew the money from his account.

Last night, Mr Reynolds' solicitor Andrew Clinton said his client did not wish to comment on the latest developments.

Mr Reynolds was at the helm of Darlington Football Club for almost five years, saving the Quakers from bankruptcy in 1999.

He oversaw a move from the old Feethams ground to the £20m Reynolds Arena - now the Williamson Motors Stadium - in Neasham Road.

But the club plunged into administration, with crippling debts just before Christmas last year.

Mr Reynolds stepped down as chairman in January and the club faced unprecedented turbulent times before Sterling took charge at the end of May.

The threat of liquidation was only staved off because of a deal between Sterling and Mr Reynolds, ensuring that he, as a major creditor, would vote in favour of a rescue package.

In the wake of the Quakers saga, Mr Reynolds announced that he would be putting his spell in football behind him to open shops selling high-class evening wear and lingerie