Fabio Paratici’s FIGC ban has been extended worldwide, meaning the Italian director will have to step away from his job in North London, but he and Juventus hope the ruling will be overturned in an appeal hearing on April 19.
FIFA confirmed on Wednesday that the 30-month ban imposed on Paratici by FIGC in January had been extended worldwide, but the Italian director has already lodged an appeal alongside his former club.
Juventus were deducted 15 points in the same sporting trial looking into the club’s alleged artificially inflated transfer values when Paratici was the sporting director in Turin.
The appeal hearing at the CONI Collegio di Garanzia will take place on April 19, 2023, on the eve of the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals between Juventus and Sporting CP in Portugal.
Juventus had been cleared of allegations alongside other Serie A and Serie B clubs in a first trial in April 2022, but new evidence emerged with a criminal investigation conducted by the Turin Prosecutor led FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné to open a new case.
Investigators used wiretaps and seized documents allegedly proving the Juventus director voluntarily inflated transfer values to balance the books. Among the documents captured by the Turin Prosecutors was a notebook written by Paratici’s successor at Juventus, Federico Cherubini, who blamed his predecessor for excessive use of capital gains.
Juventus have denied any wrongdoing and insisted that documents used by the FIGC Court of Appeal in the second trial do not represent new proof and should, therefore, not lead to a 15-point deduction and bans for their former directors, including Paratici and ex-President Andrea Agnelli.
As for the criminal investigation known as ‘Prisma’ the preliminary hearing took place this past Monday but was postponed to May 10. Neither Paratici nor the other 10 individuals recommended for trial showed up at the Turin court on Monday.