Ex-Juventus president Andrea Agnelli seeks plea bargain deal in false accounting case

Key Points

• Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has requested a plea bargain deal that would give him a 20-month sentence in a false accounting trial which led to his 2022 resignation.
• Former vice president Pavel Nedved sought a 14-month deal, while sporting director Fabio Paratici and legal officer Cesare Gabasio each requested 18-month pleas.
• Prosecutors allege Juventus used illegal transfer commissions and fake invoices to inflate income, and a court decision in Rome is expected in September.
• If the pleas are accepted, they could conclude the club’s false accounting cases and pave the way for Agnelli’s return to soccer after his ban expires in October.

ROME (AP) — Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has requested a plea bargain deal that would give him a 20-month sentence in a false accounting trial that contributed to his downfall at the record 36-time Serie A champion.

Former Juventus vice president Pavel Nedved requested a deal of 14 months and former Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici and chief legal officer Cesare Gabasio each requested 18 months.

Prosecutors began investigating in 2021 whether Juventus, which is listed on the Milan stock exchange, cashed in on illegal commissions from transfer and loans of players. The case has also explored whether investors were misled with invoices being issued for non-existent transactions to demonstrate income that in turn could be deemed false accounting.

A decision in the case, which was moved from Turin to Rome, is expected in September, a preliminary judge announced Friday.

The case prompted Agnelli and Juventus’ entire board of directors to resign in 2022. Agnelli was then given two separate bans by sports authorities, the last of which expires in October.

Juventus was hit with a 10-point penalty in the 2022-23 season and then removed by UEFA from the Conference League for financial irregularities.

If the plea bargains are accepted in September, it could be the final step in the false accounting legal cases at Juventus and set up Agnelli's possible return to soccer after his sports ban expires a month later.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer