Today, the financial police of Italy entered the premises of AC Milan unannounced and began a search of the office premises.The reason is the public prosecutor’s investigation launched a few months ago to check who owns the famous club.The sale of the club in the summer of 2022, when the Americans sold the club to the Americans, seems suspicious. At least the official version of the sale story…After three and a half decades of Silvio Berlusconi’s rule, which elevated Milan to one of the biggest clubs in the world, the club was bought from him in 2016 by dubious Chinese businessmen whose capital was shrouded in secrecy. It turned out that they were heavily indebted to the American fund Elliott at usurious interest and two years later they lost Milan because they could not credit the debt installments to the Americans.In the summer of 2018, Elliott took over the club, set up his management and the sports department, which included Leonardo, Maldini and Boban, considering that until then they did not have much experience with European football and people from the world of football. Cost-cutting began immediately, and Elliott’s confidant was South African businessman Ivan Gazidis with previous MLS experience and an infamous spell at Arsenal.##NAJAVA_MECA_7950817##Despite reduced investment by Elliott, the sports sector led by Maldini and Massaro managed to revive Milan, return them to the Champions League and bring them the title of Italian champions after 11 years of waiting. Exactly at the time when the scudetto was won, Elliott decided to sell the club to another American investment fund – Redbird.Gerry Cardinale, an American businessman of Italian descent with management experience in American sports such as baseball, is one of the heads of Redbird. Redbird soon got rid of Maldini and his associates and appointed trusted people from Italy like the little-known Giorgio Furlani (45).It was Gazidis and Furlani who found themselves under investigation by the Italian authorities today.They and two managers with an address in Luxembourg are suspected of “presenting material facts that were not true, concealing the truth, fraud…”. Apart from the club premises in Casa Milan, a search was also carried out in the houses of the suspects.📰 Today’s @Gazzetta_it… 😬 “All the Devil risks. From a fine to the points deducted, #ACMilan are afraid and UEFA is waiting.” 🤦♂️ “The investigation into the real ownership of the club could have serious consequences in Italy and also lead to exclusion from Europe.” pic.twitter.com/oY204N22rW— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) March 13, 2024 It is suspected that during Redbird’s purchase, they obstructed the functions of the Italian Football Federation’s communications watchmen and concealed the real owners. Investigative authorities suspect that Gerry Cardinale’s American fund does not actually own Milan, but that Elliott still manages it. The investigation led to the conclusion that Milan was still in the real ownership of Elliott and that the sale to Redbird was simulated for financial gain.A few hours later, Milan announced itself with an official statement in which it pointed out that it was not connected to the procedure and that it would cooperate with the investigative authorities. By the way, Ellibott is the majority owner of Lille, which is why according to the rules they should not also be the owner of Milan. At the same time, Redbird is the majority owner of Toulouse and a minority owner of Liverpool.In recent days, information has become public that the Americans from Milan are staying in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where they offered investors to buy the famous club from San Siro.
