Anecdotally, my cousin works in operations for a small minor-minor league USA soccer team, and even he and some of the other staff suspect it's a money-laundering scheme. They've never met the owner or know his name (The whole staff is only 10 people). They are told he's from Portugal but that's it. Nothing about the press releases in local papers even mentions who owns or funded the team, outside of two "partners" that are a pair of coaches who started a local soccer club. If you take a look at its registration, it's just an LLC with no other names or information available.