Inter Milan president Steven Zhang suffered defeat in the Hong Kong High Court against a number of creditors. He had to pay a tremendous debt worth 255 million dollars.
As the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, Steven Zhang was sued by creditors demanding back a $255 million loan and notes that matured last August. This is related to the Inter Milan President’s business project with China Construction Bank in 2020.
Zhang dodged that his signature on the documents in question had been forged. He insisted that he and the family company, Great Matrix, were not responsible for the money. “Some of the staff involved in this project may have forged my signature on behalf of Great Matrix to assist with funding,” Zhang said, according to court documents.
However, this defense was rejected by High Court judge, Anthony Chan, who ruled that Zhang was involved in the funding and provided his personal guarantee. This was evident after the expert opinion of a signature expert decided that 5 of Zhang’s 6 signatures on the document were by himself while the sixth was added in an electronic copy.
As a result, he is obliged to pay the amount as demanded by the creditors including interest and penalties. The same creditor, China Construction Bank, is now pursuing a civil lawsuit in Milan. They asked the local court to overturn Zhang’s salary waiver in his role as Inter president in February 2019 in order to help them recover the assets. Not only that, SCMP also reported that other creditors were also pursuing Suning.
A note-holding group, which includes Shanghai Bank and Guangdong Huaxing Bank, has raised at least 25 percent of the securities for direct payment. Zhang is the son of Suning founder Zhang Jindong, who started his business as an air conditioner seller in 1990 and became China’s largest home appliance retailer with 10,000 branches at its peak.
The business empire began to crumble in June 2021 after a Beijing court ordered the freezing of Zhang’s 540.2 million shares listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Steven Zhang himself became president of Inter Milan at the age of 26 when he was appointed in 2018 after his father bought a 68.5 per cent stake in the Nerazzurri.
