Arsenal football club caught up in bizarre BYD fraud case.
A high-profile sponsorship deal between English Premier League club Arsenal and Chinese automaker BYD has been caught up in a bizarre case of fraud centering around one woman, false identities and forged company seals.
Fans of Arsenal have often complained about the club failing to make big-money signings. However, the deal signed with BYD in April looks like it could become an off-pitch embarrassment, after the club’s hierarchy was reportedly duped by Li Juan, a woman suspected of pretending to work on behalf of China’s biggest electric car manufacturer.
On April 23, Arsenal posted a statement on its website saying the club had signed a “global agreement with the world’s best-selling electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD Auto,” with the Chinese company becoming Arsenal’s “official car and bus partner.”
Despite an official signing event held in London in May, with high-level BYD staff in attendance, that deal is now believed to have been conducted fraudulently through Li Juan.
According to Global Times, after suspicions arose in June, BYD discovered that Li “had rented an office in Shanghai and claimed it was a branch of BYD,” where she identified herself as “general manager of Shanghai BYD Electric Vehicle Co.”
From that office Li and several others forged a BYD company stamp, and undertook advertising deals with “many entities,” including Arsenal.
Li has since been arrested on suspicion of fraud, and more details of the case came to light on Tuesday after BYD posted a “clarification announcement” to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, addressing growing media speculation.
The announcement saw BYD confirm that Li Juan had never been authorized to act on the company’s behalf, and “the seal stamped on the contract signed by Li Juan in the name of BYD” was forged.
BYD acknowledged that Li’s actions had “harmed the interests of related parties and damaged greatly the reputation of BYD.”
Arsenal had earlier published its own statement on Friday, saying “BYD has informed Arsenal that they believe they have been the victim of a fraud in relation to various advertising agreements. This includes our partnership with BYD which was formally launched by both parties” at an event on May 8.
Li is now under investigation over fraud, however many details of the case remain unclear. Chinese media The Paper has questioned why Li was able to fraudulently act on behalf of BYD for three years without being detected.
And, despite BYD’s clarification statement on Monday, in which it said “some media published or reproduced false reports about the Company,” the automaker’s share price has fallen by more than seven percent since last Thursday.