The federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè has referred Juventus to the National Federal Court – Disciplinary Section, as direct and objective liability, pursuant to art. art. 6, paragraph 1 and 2, of the Sports Justice Code, in relation to the investigation ‘Transmission of documents by the Public Prosecutor of Turin contained in the file at the basis of the notice pursuant to art. 415bis cpp issued on 24/10/2022 against the company FC Juventus SpA and its members’.
Having examined the results of the criminal investigation and the documents acquired by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Turin; having evaluated the investigation carried out in the disciplinary field and given the proposal of the Deputy Federal Prosecutor Giorgio Ricciardi and the Deputy Federal Prosecutors Luca Scarpa and Alessandro D’Oria, Chinè referred the Juventus club for the acts and behaviors put in place by its managers; and in order:
Andrea Agnelli (at the time Chairman of the Board of Directors), Pavel Nedved (at the time Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors), Fabio Paratici (at the time Chief Football Officer), Federico Cherubini (at the time Head of Football Teams & Technical Areas at the time), Giovanni Manna (at the time DS of the Under 23), Paolo Morganti (at the time Head of Football Operations), Stefano Braghin (at the time Director of the Youth Sector) , who are accused of violating art. 4, paragraph 1, of the CGS for various acts and behaviors relating to 4 different aspects covered by the investigation: the 2019-20 season salary maneuver; the one for the 2020-21 season; the vein agents; partnerships with other clubs, for which the outcome of the investigation is summarized below (among other things, the referral indicates the 131 documents, deeds, reports, contracts and email correspondence relevant for the purposes of the investigation) .
As regards the third line of investigation, that relating to relations with agents, Agnelli, Paratici, Nedved, and also Federico Cherubini, Head of Football Teams & Technical Areas, Giovanni Manna, DS of the Under 23, Paolo Morganti, Head of Football Operations, Stefano Braghin, Youth Sector Director (current Head of Juventus Women), each to the extent of their respective competence, the violation of art. 4, paragraph 1, of the Sports Justice Code, for having violated the principles of loyalty, correctness and probity, both independently and in violation and/or circumvention of the provisions of art. 6.2, paragraph 7, of the FIGC Sports Agents Regulations and in competition with some agents in relation to a series of transfers, contract renewals or signing of a professional contract. In these various situations between 2015 and 2022, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the club: would have paid sports agents for player transfer operations in the absence of a real intermediation activity by the agent; in relation to the transfer of some players, he allegedly made use of a sports agent without any assignment of mandate; or in other cases would have given a “fictitious/untruthful” mandate to another agent; or again he would have paid an agent with a consideration in the absence of a real intermediation activity in order to compensate and remedy the debts towards the agent for the negotiation of another footballer at the time of the events a minor or ‘young player’ ( for which therefore no consideration could be agreed). In this regard, a copy of the investigative documents relating to the conduct of the agents under investigation (Davide Lippi, Gabriele Giuffrida, Giorgio Parretti, Antonio Rebesco, Luca Ariatti, Silvio Pagliari, Giuseppe Galli, Michele Fioravanti, Luca Puccinelli, Tullio Tinti, Vincenzo Morabito) has been forwarded to the Federal Commission for sports agents, as far as it is concerned.
The transactions for which the charges against the Juventus managers and agents are disputed concern: the transfer of the player Spinazzola Leonardo to AS Roma (on 30 June 2019); the permanent transfer (June 2020) of the player Sene Kaly to Basel FC; the contract renewal of 26 March 2020 of the footballer Chiellini Giorgio; the loan transfer with the obligation to buy of the player Rafia Hamza to Standard De Liege (August 2021); the temporary transfer of the player Francofonte Nicolo` to Sampdoria (January 2020); the permanent transfer of the player Marricchi Filippo to Novara Calcio (August 2019); the permanent transfer (January 2019) of the footballer Kameraj Cendrim to Lugano (Switzerland); the contractual renewal of the player Petrelli for the 2019/20 football season; the transfer (January 2019) from Genoa to Juventus of the footballer Zanimacchia Luca; the transfer from breaking latest news to Juventus of the footballer Brunori Matteo Luigi (2019/20 football season); the extension, for the 2020/21 football season, of the contract of the footballer Ranocchia Filippo; the transfer, on 22 June 2021, of the footballer Olivieri Marco from Juventus to Lecce; the transfer of Clemenza Luca to breaking latest news (31 August 2021); the stipulation of the professional contract of the players Oliveira Rosa Lucas, De Oliveira Andrade Wesley David, Portanova Manolo.
Finally, in relation to the last aspect, relating to partnership relationships, the same violation of article 4 paragraph 1 of the CGS is contested, in addition to Paratici, also against Cesare Gabasio, a person who carried out activities within or in the interest of the Juventus company, for having violated the principles of loyalty, correctness and probity, in relation to the fact of having negotiated, signed or in any case agreed with the companies Sampdoria, Atalanta, Sassuolo, Udinese, Bologna and Cagliari confidential agreements concerning transfer market transactions relating to the purchase and/or sale and/or redemption of players, without filing the relevant federal forms with the Lega di Serie A and/or filing federal forms bearing totally or partially different agreements from those actually concluded, thus maintaining a conduct of clear circumvention of the federal legislation which, for reasons of transparency, requires giving adequate evidence of the agreements concerning the transfer of the rights to the sports performances of the players. In this regard, the positions of the clubs and of the respective managers who have established such relationships with Juventus will be assessed following the outcome of the further investigations in progress, currently covered by preliminary investigation secrecy, following the transmission of the criminal investigation documents by the Public Prosecutor of Turin to the competent Public Prosecutors on 24 February 2023.