Yonghong Li, owner of AC Milan, has declared himself bankrupt, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.
The newspaper reports that Li will have his assets auctioned off on Chinese online shopping site Taobao.
Li paid €740 million (US$926 million) to buy the Serie A outfit from Silvio Berlusconi in April 2017.
Corriere della Sera says that Li used a high-interest loan from venture capital fund Elliott Management, €340 million in offshore funds and just €100 million of his own money to carry out the purchase.
It is believed Li cannot repay the loan, and that the packaging company Zhuhai Zhongfu, valued at €60 million, and of which Li's holding company Shenzhen Jie Ande owns 11.39 per cent, has been ordered on sale via an auction by the tribunal in Futian to repay the Jiangsu and Canton banks.
The company was allegedly ordered to be sold in February 2017 - prior to the Li's purchase of Milan - but was held up by the appeal process.
The newspaper report also claims that Li was already insolvent by the time he took over full control of the team last April.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has also announced that they have opened an investigation into Shenzhen Jie Ande after the company failed to disclose Li's bankruptcy for several months.
Reports of Li's financial mismanagement have circled in the media following his purchase of the Italian side, with The New York Times and financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore both running investigations that concluded that the Chinese businessman lacked funds.
Source: tribalfootball.com