Threats to Alinghi may have been faked

By TONY WALL

Police are investigating whether letters threatening violence against the families of Alinghi's America's Cup sailors could have emanated from within the syndicate.

The Weekend Herald has heard claims that the letters were fakes, sent by people close to the syndicate for ulterior motives.

Police say they cannot rule out any scenario and the inquiry remains wide open.

The Herald this week received a letter from lawyers acting for a man closely aligned with the syndicate denying responsibility for the letters and threatening legal action if the paper published a story linking him to them.

Alinghi have boosted their security since members of the Swiss syndicate, which includes Team NZ defectors Brad Butterworth and Russell Coutts, received two letters last month threatening members' families and property and the syndicate base.

The letters were from a group calling itself Teach the Traitors a Lesson.

Some syndicate members have fulltime bodyguards.

The initial police focus was on the now-defunct BlackHeart campaign, as some of the phrases in the letters resembled quotes from the group's email newsletters.

The head of the inquiry, Detective Mike Cartwright, had agreed to meet the Herald yesterday to discuss the case, but shortly before the meeting police press officer Jeoff Barraclough rang to say the interview was off and there would be no further comment.

This was in light of "recent events", he said, alluding to reports that Team Alinghi had been fined $10,000 for flouting rules forbidding them from Team New Zealand's practice zone on the Hauraki Gulf.

He said police did not want to get involved in any further "Machinations" between the America's Cup teams.

Earlier in the week, however, Mr Barraclough confirmed that rumours were circulating that the threatening letters had come from within the syndicate.

"I'm not telling you if we've ruled it out or not. We're investigating it, end of story," he said. "When you're investigating something of this nature, you look at the whole thing from a broad perspective and you look at every single possibility."

But he indicated that the persistent nature of the rumours were "annoying a criminal investigation".

Alinghi spokesman Bernard Schopfer said he believed the letters came from an external source.

* tony_wall@nzherald.co.nz

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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