LONDON -- A British judge has blocked a bid by Liverpool's former American owners to be able to sue in the United States over the enforced sale of the club.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. have claimed that an "epic swindle" by Liverpool directors and the club's lenders led to a cut-price $476 million sale to the Boston Red Sox ownership group in October.

The ousted owners wanted an order preventing them from pursuing damages outside Britain or the European Union to be lifted by London's High Court.

But Liverpool says in a statement that Justice Christopher Floyd ruled Thursday that "the anti-suit injunction prohibiting the former owners from commencing legal actions ... outside the EU has been upheld and clarified."



Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press