AC Milan under the microscope as sale to RedBird probed

Police swooping on club offices have become commonplace in recent seasons as financial scandals engulfed Italy's most widely supported team Juventus as part of a broader controversy over player transfer profits in professional football.

Tuesday's raid of Milan's headquarters, a short distance from the iconic San Siro stadium where they play their home fixtures, focussed on their current CEO Giorgio Furlani and his predecessor Ivan Gazidis.

Milan as a club are not on the list of suspects targeted by prosecutors in Italy's economic capital over RedBird's acquisition of the seven-time European champions for 1.2 billion euros (at the time $1.3 billion) from Elliott Management.

Prosecutors reportedly sent Italy's finance police to get material not just from the club's HQ but also at the homes of Gazidis and Furlani. The pair are under suspicion of hiding from the Italian Football Federation's supervisory body COVISOC that US fund Elliott maintained control of Milan despite the sale to RedBird.

Elliott acquired Milan in 2018 when Chinese businessman Li Yonghong was unable to repay a loan he had taken out when he bought the club from the late Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest the previous year.

Elliott said on Tuesday that: "This allegation is false. AC Milan was sold to RedBird on 31st August 2022. As of that date, the Elliott funds have had no equity interest in, or control over, AC Milan."

A source told 'AFP' at the time of the sale that RedBird had acquired 99.9 percent of the club's shares, with Elliot no longer possessing capital neither in Milan and not investing in RedBird funds.

To help finance the sale to RedBird Elliott provided a vendor loan to its fellow US fund, a common practice in private equity transactions, for 550