Juventus Turin has been penalized with a withdrawal of 15 points in the league by the Italian sports justice due to accounting fraud during player transfers, the Italian Football Federation announced on Friday evening.
Juve had been acquitted with ten other clubs in this case in the spring of 2022 but the Federation Court of Appeal accepted the request of the federal prosecutor to reopen the case, only for the Turin club, in view of the elements transmitted by justice Italian who is also investigating the accounts of the “Old lady”, according to a press release from the Federation.
Agnelli and Paratici sanctioned
By inflicting on Juve this penalty of 15 points, “to be served in the current season” according to the terms of this press release, the instance went beyond the requisitions of the prosecutor who had requested a withdrawal of nine points.
The Court of Appeal also imposed long suspensions on the former leaders of the Turin club: two and a half years against the former sports director Fabio Paratici, today at Tottenham, and two years for ex-president Andrea Agnelli, who officially stepped down this week. Here too, the sanctions are stronger than the requisitions of the federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè.
Opportunity to challenge
Juventus has the possibility of contesting before the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) this sanction which greatly compromises its chances of finishing in the first four of Serie A and therefore of competing next season in the lucrative Champions League.
If other clubs had been prosecuted originally, Juventus has always been on the front line in this case, accused of having notably overvalued the selling prices of certain players to record artificially inflated capital gains in its accounts. Juve is also the subject of a judicial investigation into possible accounting fraud to artificially limit its losses in its balance sheets presented to investors.
The Turin prosecutor’s office requested in early December the dismissal of Andrea Agnelli and eleven other ex-leaders. This request must be examined at the end of March. Andrea Agnelli announced his resignation at the end of November, under legal pressure. His successor to the presidency, Gianluca Ferrero, was officially inducted on Wednesday.