The Turin Prosecutor is looking into Juventus’ system to pay off debts with football agents, including Davide Lippi, who Federico Cherubini urged to ask for money from Fabio Paratici and Tottenham.
The Bianconeri are facing an investigation for alleged false accounting and false communication to the market, with 11 of their current and former directors, including Paratici, now at Tottenham, recommended for trial.
Aside from the suspected inflated transfer values and hidden payments to footballers and staff members, investigators are also looking into a system allegedly used by club directors to pay off debts with agents under the table.
According to Gazzetta, a notebook belonging to Cherubini was found during searches by Guardia Di Finanza, Italy’s Financial Police. It was updated to January 25, 2020, and had the names of agents who were waiting to receive compensation after completing deals with the club.
Juventus didn’t keep track of debts with those agents in their balance sheet, so this is one more reason why they are under investigation for false accounting, with the suspect of having hidden €8m in debts with footballers’ representatives.
So, how did Juventus pay off their debts?
According to the Turin Prosecutor, they included the agents who had credit with the club in negotiations that did not require an intermediary, paying them money under the table for a service they had not offered.
“If we have an ’empty’ deal, we can put you in,” Juventus directors repeatedly told agents, including Lippi, Gabriele Giuffrida, Silvio Pagliari and Giuseppe Galli, who are not under investigation.
Lippi, son of former Italy coach Marcello and the representative of many Italian players including Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Spinazzola, complained to ex-Juve director Paratici several times because of a €450,000 commission that he hadn’t received when Juventus and Roma swapped his client Spinazzola with Luca Pellegrini, who joined the Bianconeri.
Wiretaps published by La Gazzetta Dello Sport appear to prove that Lippi complained to Paratici and Cherubini, asking for money the club had owed him for two years.
On paper, the swap deal with Roma was completed by another intermediary, Giuffrida.
“What’s incredible is that the deal was assigned to Giuffrida and not you. Then Paratici spoke to Lippi and they agreed to €450,000, so ask for money from Tottenham now,” Cherubini told a collaborator of Lippi last year when Paratici had already joined Tottenham.
Investigators believe Lippi was eventually paid the total sum thanks to transfers of Kaly Sene to Basel, Hamza Rafia to Standard Liege and Chiellini’s contract extension.