Chelsea once face the risk of a trouble deduction after alleged secret Roman Abramovich-era bills were exposed in a trove of leaked documents.
The Blues are already under investigation through the Premier League for alleged monetary breaches, which were reported to the government through the Todd Boehly consortium once they took over the club in May 2022. Meanwhile, alleged bills related to Willian and Samuel Eto’o’s transfers are also under scrutiny, having recently come to light. There is no indication that any of the players are aware of the invoices allegedly made to Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, former owner of club promoter Anzhi Makhachkala.
The club was also fined £8. 6 million through UEFA for submitting “incomplete monetary information” between 2012 and 2019. Now, an investigation through The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, leaked documents, alleges that Chelsea made a number of other secret bills that would have possibly violated monetary fair play and accounting rules.
Chelsea allegedly used offshore accounts connected to Abramovich to invoice tens of millions of pounds over a 10-year period. In addition to the accounts relating to the transfers of Willian and Eto’o, the report states that invoices were made from offshore entities controlled through Abramovich to certain Americans connected to Chelsea.
For example, the documents allege that an account held through Abramovich in the British Virgin Islands paid £7 million (£6. 1 million) to an account in Dubai in March 2013, with the contract signed through John Bico-Penaque, Eden Hazard’s agent. , who had joined Chelsea last year in a £32m move from Lille.
An offshore account belonging to Abramovich is also alleged to have paid £10 million for a 75-cent stake in a Delaware-based company owned by Federico Pastorello, an Italian football agent with close ties to Antonio Conte, on the same day Conte signed a new contract. Pastorello has spoken in the past about Conte’s contract negotiations in the media, but told the Guardian he was not his client.
The documents revealed other payments of this type, which could put the club in a difficult situation; the Boehly consortium itself has reported such potential disruptions to the FA, Premier League and UEFA after discovering them through due diligence. Abramovich bought Chelsea for £140 million in 2003 and oversaw an era of success that included five Premier League trophies and two Champions League titles before promoting it last year after being sanctioned by the UK government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite declaring some expenses, Chelsea could be fined or deducted from the Premier League if those expenses were not recorded as part of the club’s original annual financial reports. The league is already investigating Chelsea’s finances between 2012 and 2019, while the FA is also involved in the allegations. However, UEFA is less likely to impose additional sanctions, as it has already imposed a fine and can only take a look at the problems of the last three years.
Chelsea responded to a request for comment from Mirror Football. But in an earlier statement, the club said: Chelsea said in a statement: “These allegations predate the existing ownership of the club. They relate to entities that would have been controlled through the former owner of the club and I fear any herb user who is already a member of the club.
Get your special pair of Glitter Edition rainbow laces here to commemorate the anniversary. Mirror readers get 20% off with code MIRROR20 (subject to availability).
“The organization that owns Chelsea FC finalized the acquisition of the club on May 30, 2022. During an extensive due diligence procedure prior to the final touch of the acquisition, the owning organization became aware of potentially incomplete monetary data related to old club transactions. property. Immediately after the final touch of the acquisition, the club proactively reported those issues to all applicable football regulators.
“In line with the club’s core principles of full compliance and transparency, the club has proactively assisted applicable regulators in their investigations and will continue to do so. “
Join our new WhatsApp network! Click this link to get your fix of Mirror Football content. We also provide members of our network with special offers, promotions and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our network, you can check it out at any time. If you are curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Follow Tuchel’s Blues. Get our Chelsea newsletter delivered to your FREE inbox