Rome prosecutors seek trial for former Juventus managers in accounting case

Agnelli and other defendants including former vice-chairman Pavel Nedved would face various charges including stock manipulation, obstruction of supervision and false invoicing, the sources said.

FILE PHOTO: Juventus’ president Andrea Agnelli looking on during the Italian Serie A football match Juventus vs Napoli at the Juventus stadium in Turin. | Photo Credit: AFP

Rome prosecutors on Wednesday requested that former Juventus Chairman Andrea Agnelli and other ex-managers of Italy’s most successful football club face trial over allegations of false accounting during their tenure, judicial sources said.

Agnelli and other defendants including former vice-chairman and Ballon d’Or winner Pavel Nedved would face various charges including stock manipulation, obstruction of supervision and false invoicing, the sources said.

Juventus said in a statement that its lawyers had notified it of the request for indictment by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Rome. 

A lawyer for Agnelli, who was Juve’s chairman from 2010 to 2022, was not immediately available to comment.

A judge will have to evaluate the prosecutors’ request and decide whether to let a trial go ahead or dismiss the case. A date for a hearing on the issue has yet to be scheduled.

Juventus has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said its accounting is in line with industry standards.

The club was docked 10 points for the Serie A season in May 2023 after a ruling by an Italian football court in a case centred on the their transfer dealings.

In March of the same year, a Turin judge started to examine whether Agnelli, 11 other people and the club should face trial, but Italy’s Supreme Court shifted the case from the club’s home city to Rome at the request of defence lawyers.