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By Nick Harris
29 October 2010
The former Liverpool suitor Kenny Huang, exposed by sportingintelligence in August (link here) as someone with limited sports business credentials who lied under oath in an embezzlement trial (which he won), has today been served with legal papers in London that accuse him of fraud, deceit and defamation among other things, charges that if proven could cost him around $10m.
The plaintiff in the case is a Florida resident, Deidre Halley-Wright, a former business associate of Huang. Huang is one of nine co-defendants in an action relating to a car import business. Huang has 20 days to respond to the summons, and could face a trial or a judgement against him in his absence if things get that far.
Huang gained international prominence when bidding for Liverpool, then pulling out without explanation.
Huang was in London to take part in a panel discussion about sport in China as part of an event called the Global Sport Summit.
Ms Halley-Wright had tried unsuccessfully to serve the papers several times on Huang in the USA, where he is domiciled, leading to a judge in Florida giving her extra time in August to serve him. The judge at the time described Huang as “very successfully evading service” up to that point.
Amid farcical scenes at today’s conference, Huang refused to answer any questions about Liverpool or his sports businesses, such as they are, and was eventually chased down a corridor by a group of journalists and camera crews, declining to talk about the lawsuit, until he escaped in a lift. He was later escorted by security through an underground exit, from where he was driven away in car with tinted windows.
A fuller report of the escapade will appear in tomorrow’s Independent.
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