Former Milan executive director David Han Li revealed what happened behind the scenes with Yonghong Li and Elliott Management. “The nightmare was real. We don’t trust anyone now.”
The entire affair caused immense confusion, as after purchasing the club from Silvio Berlusconi in May 2017 only to effectively have their holding company repossessed for failing to meet payments on a loan to hedge fund Elliott Management.
Former Milan executive director David Han Li revealed what happened behind the scenes with Yonghong Li and Elliott Management. “The nightmare was real. We don’t trust anyone now.”
The entire affair caused immense confusion, as after purchasing the club from Silvio Berlusconi in May 2017 only to effectively have their holding company repossessed for failing to meet payments on a loan to hedge fund Elliott Management.
Yonghong Li kept absolutely silent for well over a year until suddenly launching a Twitter account, which Han Li confirms is genuine during a lengthy and revealing interview with Forbes.
“There are a few reasons why we have kept quiet,” said David Han Li. “The first is that now, we don’t have any trust in anyone. It was also about not having trust in the media.”
He outlined that several crucial financial details, board meeting notes and names of investors were leaked within hours of agreements. “Who had all this important information?”
Yonghong Li invested over €500m in Milan and yet did not protest when everything was repossessed for failing to pay back even a small portion of the loan he had taken to buy the club.
“We had responsibility for the club, and many millions of fans, which is not easy. We, as ownership, were not involved in daily management decisions, but we took management’s advice and discussed with them some important matters.
“At the end of the day, everyone has to take responsibility for their decisions, so I tried very hard to adapt. But unfortunately, with many things, as owners and as management, our hands were tied.
“The problems weren’t about the fans, but the high-level people, the important people, the people who had the power that wanted to protect their own interests. Then, it’s different. They would try to do everything to get away from us, to keep us out of the loop.”
The finger seems to be pointing at directors such as Marco Fassone and Massimiliano Mirabelli, while Berlusconi had originally accepted the role of Honorary President only to pull out a few days before closing.
“At a football club, you are not managing a machine, you are managing thousands of humans. Your vision has to have everyone in alignment with you for it to work. We had to understand, as it came with cross cultures and philosophies, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to make it work.”
Elliott Management are a US hedge fund, known also as a vulture fund, for their history of picking up assets that are in deep financial trouble.
David Han Li implies Yonghong Li was surprised by the lack of co-operation from Elliott when the money started to run dry.
“I think by the end they also behaved differently towards us. I asked, I think in February 2018, one of the Elliott guys directly whether they had been responsible for planting those media attacks, and if they wanted the club for themselves. Of course, he denied it.
“We had heard about Elliott’s reputation, but you never know if the reports are real until you really know someone. The stories could have been put there by competitors, there are different reasons why these stories exist. I was not sure if the stories were true…until later!
“If they had behaved perfectly, all we needed them to do was the debt refinancing. But, this didn’t happen how we expected.”
Instead, Yonghong Li defaulted on loan repayments and the club was effectively repossessed in the summer of 2018.
“I woke up and the nightmare was real, it was not a dream,” concluded David Han Li.
“We didn’t want the fans to think we stole from them, we didn’t want any bad feelings towards us. That’s why we appointed Italian directors. But this was used by some people, and it was because of our kindness to be honest. It was used against us.
“I was under so much stress that I still have scars on my thumbs where I pushed my fingernails into them because of it.”
My friend and associate, David, spoke about the circumstances surrounding our purchase of AC Milan. The #Rossoneri community needs to hear this.
Thank you David for speaking out! https://t.co/T857B26CKC
— Yonghong Li (@YonghongLi69) January 8, 2020