The entire current and former brasses of Roma and Lazio are under investigation for allegedly doctoring their balance sheets with fake capital gains, one of the accusations that led to Juventus’ point deduction. Giallorossi owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin and Biancocelesti one Claudio Lotito, former governor James Pallotta, ex-CEOs Umberto Gandini and Guido Fienga, directors Igli Tare and Mauro Baldissoni, and a few other officials were notified by the local DA’s office.
Per La Gazzetta dello Sport, the detectives suspect the clubs increased the valuations of players to register more profits. As for La Lupa, the deals under scrutiny are the sales of Riccardo Marchizza and Davide Frattesi to Sassuolo and Marco Tumminello to Atalanta, a trade with the Bianconeri involving Leonardo Spinazzola and Luca Pellegrini, and the acquisitions of Gregoire Defrel and Bryan Cristante during the Pallotta era. More recently, the purchase of Marash Kumbulla from Verona, with Mert Cetin and Matteo Cancellieri as partial makeweights. Roma was listed on the Italian Stock Office exchange at the time, and Lazio still are.
The investigators are probing multiple transfers between the Biancocelesti and Salernitana. Lotito controlled both clubs for a few years. Their lawyer Gian Michele Gentile spoke with LaPresse.
“This measure stems from other inquiries. The accusation is to have overestimated price tags and issued false invoices. We submitted all the required documents, private and federal contracts, and proof of what we paid. We’ll wait for the finance police to send their report and then we’ll explain to the DA. The sums are way inferior compared to Juventus and not large enough to significantly alter the balance sheets. We’ll demonstrate that the operations were real.”
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