July 17 – Premier League Arsenal look set to lose their recently announced sponsorship by Chinese electric vehicle makers BYD. The club appear to have been caught in a suspected sponsorship fraud after the carmaker announced that a suspect had been arrested for securing fraudulent deals.
Arsenal signed a global partnership with BYD Auto to become the club’s official car and bus partner. Arsenal has been building its Chinese presence and has 4.7 million followers on its social media platform Weibo. The club toured China in 2017 as part of its pre-season, when this deal was first discussed. No detail was given for the length of the deal or the value.
BYD was to receive pitchside LED signage and branding on dugout seats at the Emirates stadium.
However, Arsenal have now been told the deal is among those potentially affected by an unauthorised individual posing as a BYD employee to sign advertising partnerships. In China a female suspect named Li Juan had been arrested by Chinese authorities.
A BYD statement read: ‘We have found some illegal entities and/or individuals carrying out advertising business by forging our company’s seal and/or conducting it on behalf of our company (“Fraud Issues”). We made a statement on our website on 13th June, 2018. The criminal suspect Li Juan (English name: Liki Li) has been detained by the Chinese Public Security Authority after our reporting. Hereby we reiterate that BYD was never involved in and is not responsible for any fraud issues. Please make sure to report to the authority responsible whenever you find yourself a victim.’
Li had allegedly been conducting marketing activities in BYD’s name over the past three years, signing multiple deals and presumably claiming commissions.
Arsenal have acknowledged on their Chinese portal that the BYD deal was potentially fraudulently arranged.
“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 at the Emirates on 8th May. We are investigating the situation and discussing it with senior level BYD representatives who were involved in the launch of the partnership. We will make no further comments on this matter,” said a club statement.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714101916labto1714101916ofdlr1714101916owedi1714101916sni@n1714101916osloh1714101916cin.l1714101916uap1714101916