Arsenal caught up in sponsorship fraud

English Premier League club Arsenal has launched an investigation after it was caught up in an alleged fraud involving its sponsorship deal with Chinese carmaker BYD.

Arsenal said the deal, which was launched with great fanfare in May, was among those affected after BYD revealed what it described as a plot to defraud advertising agencies.

BYD said last week that a woman posing as the marketing manager of its Shanghai branch signed multiple contracts with advertising agencies to promote the company.

One of the affected ad firms, Shanghai Jingzhi, has said BYD had been forced to refuse payment on contracts worth 1.1 billion yuan ($165 million).