Turin overstatement – Newspaper Kommersant No. 199 (7400) of 10/26/2022

Almost all the leaders of the Turin “Juventus”, including club president Andrea Agnelli, risk being involved in a criminal case on fraudulent financial statements. On Tuesday, Turin prosecutor Anna Maria Loretto notified a dozen people associated with the club of the completion of the investigation against them. The next step is to file charges. All this is happening against the background of the crisis experienced by Juventus. Turintsy at the end of September reported record losses, besides, the most titled club in Italy is in the national championship only in eighth place.

On Tuesday, Turin prosecutor Anna Maria Loretto notified the Juventus board of directors that the department she heads had completed an investigation into 15 high-ranking club employees. Among them are Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, vice president Pavel Nedved, club general director Maurizio Arrivabene. The statement from the prosecutor’s office of Turin also notes that it asked the court to put Mr. Agnelli under house arrest, but was refused. According to the law, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, the defendants in the case have 20 days to file their objections to the prosecution. However, as practice shows, this is only a formality. In any case, the prosecutor’s office will transfer the case to court in 20 days.

Claims against the Juventus bosses arose after the authorities studied the club’s accounts for 2018, 2019 and 2020. According to the prosecutor’s office, during this period, Turintsy falsified financial statements. The audit revealed a significant gap between the real income of the club and those that were recorded in the documents. In particular, it is assumed that Juventus deliberately overestimated the reported transfer value of the players, which, according to prosecutors, caused damage to the club’s shareholders: Juventus shares are traded on the Milan Stock Exchange. In addition, the club is accused of misleading shareholders by claiming to have reached an agreement with players to reduce wages at the start of the acute phase of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. The prosecutor’s office got access to the agreements with the players, according to which they were delayed only one monthly payment. At the same time, agreements were signed that the players in any case, even if they change the club, will receive the money due to them under the original contract. In total, the volume of additions, according to the investigation, amounted to €155 million.

It should be noted that the current investigation of the prosecutor’s office of Turin is a continuation, or rather, a new twist, in a story that began at the beginning of the year. Then the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) accused representatives of 11 clubs at once, among which, in addition to Juventus, were Napoli, Genoa, Sampdoria (a total of 59 people were under investigation) of the same financial violations. FIGC demanded that Mr. Agnelli be disqualified for a year. But the case fell apart at the first hearing. The court ruled that the FIGC is not authorized to decide how much the players cost, which means that all the claims of the federation are unfounded. The Federation, apparently, was not satisfied with this outcome and involved the Prosecutor’s Office of Turin in the case.

We add that Juventus, despite the alleged postscripts in the accounting documentation, according to the information provided by them, is not in the best financial position. In September, Turintsy reported record losses. In the 2021-2022 financial year, they amounted to €254.3 million. The previous anti-record was set a season earlier. Then the club’s losses were €44.4 million less.

In addition, the 36-time Italian champion is not doing well in terms of sports. In the current national championship, the team, after 11 rounds, takes only eighth place with 19 points in the asset, already 10 points behind the leading Napoli. In the Champions League, after four rounds, Turintsy scored three points and occupied the last, fourth place in Group H with minimal chances to reach the play-offs (the match of the fifth round of Benfica (Portugal) – Juventus ended after signing the number for printing).

Alexander Petrov