He came to Malta promising the stars. But just a few months after a Legends Match and Simply Red concert, impresario John Caulfield disappeared leaving a trail of debt running into tens of thousands of euros.
The courts have already delivered two judgments ordering Mr Caulfield to pay some €80,000 (Lm34,344) in unpaid bills to the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre and Repro House, an advertising agency. But the list of creditors goes on, including chauffer service companies, printers, security companies and even individual investors.
"He just vanished into thin air," lawyer Jeffrey Mifsud Farrugia, who represents the MFCC, told The Sunday Times. In fact, he left for the UK shortly after the concert and did not even bother to defend himself in the cases filed against him by the creditors. The Legends Match, which last November saw former football stars like Franco Baresi and Paul Gascoigne team up with rock stars like Richard Ashcroft and Eros Ramazzotti for a nostalgic showcase match, was meant to be the first in a series of such mega-events, Mr Caulfield had told sponsors.
The match went ahead, as did a concert by Simply Red, but that was the last anyone saw of Mr Caulfield.
The first signs of trouble emerged at a post-match dinner. Fans had paid €116 (Lm50) to watch the match and dine with the former football legends, but chaos reigned at Ta' Qali when spectators without tickets for the dinner managed to enter the hall to dine, while ticketholders were left outside.
Mr Caulfield had told The Times that an inquiry would be carried out, but shortly after that he left for the UK and has not been seen in Malta since.
"He has turned out to be a scammer. Fortunately, they've become a rarity nowadays," Dr Mifsud Farrugia said.
"We had agreed over the rental of the Ta' Qali facilities for the post-match dinner, etc, and had even spoken of future projects. But we were left with nothing," he continued.
The stars who came over and Simply Red appear to have been paid, mostly through sponsor money which included that of the Malta Tourism Authority and Go, but ticket money was not used to pay off the rest of the creditors.
Some €45,000 (Lm19,318) in revenue is being held by the courts, but this will only cover a fraction of the money owed.
A number of companies have tried to track Mr Caulfield down, but were disheartened by the expense of the exercise.
Caulfield's local company, which was set up with the bare minimum of share capital, is only backed up by Cayman Island accounts and other such banking facilities which are difficult to deal with legally.
"We've basically cut our losses at this stage. It's just not worth using good money to chase after bad but people need to be made aware that he is a dangerous man. He's a sweet talker with the gift of a gab who will convince you that he can organise a Madonna concert on the moon... but then, he leaves you with nothing," Dr Mifsud Farrugia explained.