Eventually they gave in. Caught between the investigation of the Turin prosecutor’s officethe reliefs of Consob and of the auditors of the financial statements, the managers of the Juventus they let go and resigned en masse: go Andrea Agnelliaway his deputy Pavel Nedvedaway with them Maurice Arrivabene and all other components of the board of directors. As he anticipated Ilfattoquotidiano.it last October 25th when the investigations by the Turin prosecutors were closedthe accounts to be approved by the shareholders – with the spotlights of the magistrates focused on the current moves of the managers and the possibility of an imminent request for indictment – would become the real grain of the black and white club.
The decision after hitting a cul-de-sac – And so it was, leading first to the slip twice of the assembly, then to the resignation accrued at the end of an extraordinary board of directors It continuedduring which the decision was also reached to rewrite the draft budget closed last June after denying in every possible way that the indications of thesupervisory authorities on companies listed on the Stock Exchange had their foundation. Then it closes properly inglorious And sports cycle probably unrepeatable. It started from the ashes of an investigation, Calciopoliwho had sent Juventus in B seriesand ended up overwhelmed by a new investigation. Inevitable, given that the management had slipped into a cul-de-sac between the defense of one’s work, the heavy disputes and the need to approve the latest balance sheet on which the choices at the center of the investigations are reflected Finance Guard and Consob findings.
The findings of the supervisory authority and Deloitte – In a long report on the last two financial statements, the supervisory authority pointed the finger at the work of the black and whites by analyzing the capital gains and, just like the prosecutors, also contesting the wage maneuvers. The latter, in the opinion of the Authority, would have been “a mere deferment”in short, a “delayed payment”. They were therefore obligations to be entered in the budget, otherwise the latter would result “disagreement”. And critical prominence in this sense it had also come from Deloitte & Touche, accountant of Juventus, with reference to the last two closures of the accounts. In Deloitte’s opinion, due to the different accounting, the loss for the year ended June 30, 2022 and the shareholders’ equity as at June 30, 2022 are “overestimated” of “61 million euro and 9 million euro” respectively. The loss of the financial statements closed on June 30, 2021 is instead “underestimated by 38 million”. And therefore invites the company to “carry out error correction”.
The budget will be corrected – In announcing the step back of the Board – which will continue its activities under the extension until the January 18, 2023 – and the conferment of the task of general manager a Maurice ScanavinoCEO of the Gedi Group which edits Republic And The printJuventus explained that they took note of the findings on the “salary maneuvers” deciding, for a “more prudential approach”, to review the “estimates” and the “hirings” according to the principles indicated by the supervisory authority, which “involve adjustments” in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 financial statements. Therefore the effects “will be reflected in a new draft budget of exercise and in a new consolidated financial statements as at 30 June 2022″ which will be approved in a meeting and then submitted to the shareholders’ meeting, scheduled for December 27th after being postponed twice.
The allegations behind the choices – At the same time as the decision to review the accounts in extremis after having defended the accounting standards applied in each venue, the managers decided to resign, explains the company, “considering the centrality and relevance of the legal matters and pending technical-accountants”. Accusations from which they will continue to defend themselves. For various reasons, the suspects in the investigation are accused of the crimes of false in social communications for listed companies, false communications to the market, obstacle to supervisory authoritiesinformation rigging e fraudulent statementresulting from the use of invoices for non-existent operations with the consequent undue deduction of VAT.
Who is under investigation – I pm Cyrus Santoriello And Mario Bendoni – coordinated by the adjunct Marco Gianoglio – they entered 15 people in the register of suspects, plus the company for administrative liability, including the president Lambsthe vice-president Nedvedthe former sports director Fabio Paraticithe lawyer Cesare Gabasioformer executives Mark King, Stephen Bertola And Stephen Cerrato. At the end of the investigations, the magistrates also lodged complaints against the managing director Arrive well as well as to all members of the board of directorsto the supervisory board and to the ex statutory auditor. Once the investigation has been closed and the time available to the defense has elapsed, the prosecution is now close to taking the next step, the one that could lead to the request for indictment.
The “fictitious” capital gains – In addition to the “salary maneuvers”, which Juve has now decided to correct in the financial statements, the prosecutor also disputes other alterations in the results in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 financial years. First of all, a “anomalous appeal” to “transactions for the exchange of sports performance rights” of a “large number of athletes”, a operating mode termed “dystonic”. “fictitious” capital gainsin short. According to the financiers and magistrates, the operations would have been “concluded at values arbitrarily established by the parties”. On this point, in support of the accusation there are telephone tappingwhich presumably (in the hypothesis of the investigators) would prove that the values were voluntarily manufactured to generate a purely financial income.
Insider trading and the ‘black’ book – All this, again according to the indictment, with the aim of generating capital gains, equal to 155 million eurosuseful for ‘dressing up’ the budget. The “important differences” between the budget results “as approved” and those that, according to the prosecutor supported by the analyzes of his technical adviser“should have been subject to approval” have instead led to the contestation of theinformation manipulationbecause Juventus is listed on the Euronext Milan electronic stock market. In support of the accusation, in addition to the intercepted dialogues and private writings found during the searches, there are also the notes – sort of ‘black book’ – of the current ds Federico Cherubini on the management of his predecessor Paratici: in addition to the ‘censorship’ of the operating modealso contain a key passage for a part of the investigation, the one relating to mirror operations on football players, defined as “artificial” capital gains, which lead “immediate benefit” and “load depreciation”.
