deal with Charles Green in 2012. Concurrently, Rangers' former commercial director Imran Ahmad finally succeeded in a bid to have £620,000 of club assets frozen prior to pursuing litigation over an alleged unpaid £500,000 bonus. A few days later, the club were granted leave to appeal this decision, yet on 12 September, the club agreed to a settlement with Ahmad. As some Rangers supporters groups considered boycotting home matches in protest at the board, it was reported that Ashley would not be participating in the share offer. Ashley's motives for not investing became clear the following month with his withholding much-needed money from the club in order to undermine the board. At the end of the share issue, on 12 September it was announced that it had raised just over £3 million, still £1 million short of its minimum target. The share issue was undertaken in order to allow Rangers to continue to operate into the new year, but the failure to reach the targets meant that further funding was required. A few days later, it came to light that Sandy Easdale had met with several investors that had been introduced to him by Rafat Rizvi, a convicted fraudster wanted by Interpol, which led to calls by the Union of Fans for Easdale to resign. Easdale subsequently increased his personal shareholding at Rangers to 5.21% on 24 September. On the same day, the club repaid the £1.5 million loan to Sandy Easdale and George Letham. The next day, BNP Paribas bought a 5% stake in Rangers, making it the fifth-largest shareholder. Less than 24 hours later, however, it was reported that the transaction was completed on Ashley's behalf, thus increasing his stake to 8.92%. A few days later, Ashley's holding company, MASH Holdings, called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to remove chief executive Wallace. This signalled the start of a crucial stage in the boardroom power struggle at Rangers, with King appearing to be outflanked by Ashley, who had secured the support of Sandy Easdale, David Sommers, as well as the largest shareholder in Rangers, Laxey Partners. When offers of funding from Dave King, a £16 million package, and Brian Kennedy were rejected by Rangers' hierarchy, who instead opted Mike Ashley's £2 million loan offer, it was clear who was victorious. Particularly as Ashley's initial offer was insufficient and he had to be provide another £1 million of funding