So I'm going to come at this #ESL thing w/ a slightly different tilt bc of one of the players involved. That man is Paul Singer and he and Elliot Management are the new owners of AC Milan. If you think this isn't right out of his playbook, you don't know Paul. Come with me... 1/x

Paul Singer and Elliot are Vulture Funds. Some people know VFs as domestic/US companies that buy up companies and sell them off, but I'm here to tell you that, on an international stage, he is far far worse than you can imagine. 2/x

It would take me a whole other thread to describe the history of how Singer/Elliot have been f*cking over Argentina since the early aughts, but here's the short version. Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt Elliott bought Arg bonds for pennies on the dollar (cont) 3/x

Singer refuses to accept a buy out and sues a country that can't feed his people to pay the full value of the bonds (plus atty costs/fees) which is over $2B USD Singer sues Arg and wins in US and UK courtsSinger starts claiming Arg property (cont) 4/x

Singer, through his offshore and TOTALLY SHADY subsids, seized an Argentinian naval vessel (A COUNTRY'S WHOLE SHIP DOCKED OFF GHANA) as part of $1.5B+ judgment that they won over Argentina's assetsNY court found in favor of Singer 5/x

The reason Singer knew this would work is bc he'd already done the same thing to Peru and won something like 400% profit from his original investment. Then he won again vs Argentina, and then he moved over to the African continent (so you know this only gets more insidious) 6/x

Singer picks up some defaulted debt from Rep of Congo for @ $10M and sued for $400M+ (ended up w/ $127M). Understand that he targeted countries in the HIPC initiative and looked to buy debt taken out by corrupt regimes or that wasn't ever spent on the people 7/x

So these countries are jumping through hoops and austerity measures req'd by World Bank and IMF to get debt relief (a WHOLE other convo @ colonizers keeping countries under their thumbs) and Singer rides in and essentially nicks$$ meant for pesky things like schools and roads 8/x

If you are curious about Vulture Funds, @dropthedebt was one of the orgs I worked with to try and get legal protections for these countries against these grifting hedge funds and how I met the incomparable @nickdearden75 9/x https://jubileedebt.org.uk/briefing/stop-debt-vultures

At @nickdearden75's invite, I actually got to speak to the UK Parliament APPG on Debt, Aid and Trade in Westminster and I'm quite sure my English Gran never stopped talking about it (I didn't get to meet Bercow though )

I can also thank @AramRoston for doing a great piece on Singer and the Vulture Funds in Playboy that has the additional benefit of ensuring that I always win "2 truths and a lie" 11/x

Ultimately if you really want to go down the rabbit hole, get stuck into @Greg_Palast's work. He went after Singer with a vengence 12/x https://www.gregpalast.com/tag/vultures-funds/

So meanwhile in Italy, what does that have to do with the #ESL...

The reason Singer/Elliott are now in charge of Milan is because former owner defaulted on a loan owned by [guess who]...Paul Singer. Singer backed the loan that bought the club off Berlusconi and when Li Yonghong couldn't repay it, guess what Singer took? 14/x

There was talk in 2018 that authorities thought Milan breached FFP bc of "a lack of clarity" over how Milan tried to refi Elliott's stake - that (again) is a whole other thread but Singer's empire is shady hedge funds so don't be shocked/clutch pearls. This is what he does 15/x

Side note: If you REALLY want to go down the rabbit hole of club debt, obviously you can do no better than the work of @KieranMaguire. There is nothing I can thread here that would be more clear or correct than his breakdowns. 16/x

It cannot be coincidence that Singer (and other clubs *cough cough Chelsea and Man City*) want to stick it to UEFA. The business of football has been, at best, unsustainable for a while and FFP has done nothing to increase transparency and fair play. 17/x

So what I'm saying is that this money grab has Paul Singer's fingerprints all over it. Not saying he was the instigator, but you won't find me gasping in shock if he laid out the map. The man is vile, he is amoral, and he does nothing outside of blatant self interest. 18/x

The most infuriating part is that UEFA and FIFA (and relevant FAs) should have seen/did actually see this coming. They made their beds by ignoring the spending and convoluted/hidden ownership structures, and their hubris is now forcing them to lie in them. 19/x

But what sucks is that it's the fans that are going to get really screwed. This isn't a positive move. Not to say that the current system is perfect, but this isn't the way to change it. It will, however, create lots of opportunities for lawyers and antitrust experts. 20/x

Speaking of experts, @katpijetlovic literally (and I do mean LITERALLY) wrote the book on this, so she's a definite must-follow.

Anyway, our dog is giving me the side eye so that's it for now. /fin

For the record, #WeeNessie gives the best side eye.

Not up for discussion.