The Turin prosecutor’s office has closed its investigation into the Juventus accounts and tonight the Italian media published important news about it. As reported, among others, by ‘Corriere della Sera’ and ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, Prosecutors requested a personal precautionary measure (house arrest) for President Andrea Agnelli, a request that the investigating judge rejected on October 12 “due to lack of precautionary requirements” and included CEO Maurizio Arrivabene among those investigated.
The subject of the investigation is the alleged fictitious capital gains in the purchase and sale of soccer players, the salaries canceled during the first wave of COVID and false billings: it would be accounting fraud and false communications to the market (Juve is listed on the stock market) . According to the reconstruction of the prosecutors Marco Gianoglio, Mario Bendoni and Ciro Santoriello after 11 months of work, between 2018 and 2020 the values of several players would have been decided “arbitrarily” before “the needs of the balance at that time”. The same reason that would have led to the postponement of footballer payments in 2020, who were theoretically going to give up four months of salary that, finally, only remained in one. Proof of this would be “private and secret” documents, found in offices outside the club, in which Juve undertook to pay salaries “also in the event of the player’s transfer.”
Among these documents would also be Ronaldo’s “secret letter”, a document that according to some listeners “should not exist”. The prosecutors questioned several Bianconeri players and, with an international plea, also requested the presence of Cristiano, who, through his legal documents, reported that he would not have traveled to Turin. The movements on the salaries of the footballers would have had an effect on the balance approved in October 2021 of 27 million euros.
As summarized by ‘Corriere della Sera’, capital gains and salaries “officially canceled and, instead, only deferred, would have made up the accounts”. In 2020 “losses of 209 million were declared instead of 222, with a positive net worth of 28 million instead of a negative net worth of 175 million”, and in the previous year “losses of 89 million instead of 230 and a net worth of 239 million instead of 47″.
According to the accusations, then, it would be about manipulation of values and false invoicing for non-existent operations. The 16 investigated (including Juventus, president Andrea Agnelli, vice president Pavel Nedved, former sports director Fabio Paratici and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene) will now have 20 days to file a reply or request new interrogations. The trial judge will then decide whether to take the case to trial.
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Mess in Juventus: they asked for house arrest for Agnelli