Very odd, especially given they say Richardson had a good relationship with Hottinger initially. Might also explain LOL's optimism too.
I hold Richardson no malice, I've never met him and he's done some great things for the club and invested his own personal wealth. I have, however, always harboured the thought that the reason he bought Wasps was to use the club as leverage to buy the Ricoh/CBS arena. The move was very sudden and extraordinary, and came soon after Derek had bought the club. He's now also on the ACL side of things but not sure how that will pan out.
There's not much logic to turning down a rescue package like that, but there must be more to it than we know.