Agnelli & Co. escape trial and plea bargain: they will compensate civil parties and receive sentences under two years. Moral: cheating and winning Scudetti by cheating pays off

On September 22 the judge will decide whether to accept the agreement reached between Juventus and the prosecutors. Meanwhile the world of media watches the now-familiar charade without batting an eye

(Translated into English by Grok)

When, on May 30, 2023, the Federal Court accepted the plea bargain agreed upon between Juventus and the FIGC Prosecutor's Office, which involved paying a fine of 718,000 euros in exchange for avoiding a maxi-trial where the Bianconeri would have faced charges for four serious and proven offenses (as in the capital gains trial a few months earlier, which led to a 10-point deduction in the standings and the disqualification of four top executives—Agnelli, Paratici, Nedved, and Cherubini—for a total of eight years), a trial that would have sent Juventus to Serie B, the football and political establishments sent a clear message to the world: in Italian football, any crime, even the most serious ones Juventus was accountable for, can be swept under the rug without any explanation. In fact, two months later, the championship resumed as if nothing had happened. Juventus returned to the pitch shining like the sun, with a new management replacing the great cheaters, and the nine consecutive titles won by the club from 2012 to 2020 remained in the record books—and the trophies in the club’s cabinet—without anyone objecting or saying: “The Prisma investigation showed us how these titles were won. If the values of sport still mean anything, Juventus must return the stolen goods. And so what if the Serie A record books show nine years of ‘title not assigned’? The Tour de France record books have seven such years, also consecutive, for the seven triumphs won through cheating by Lance Armstrong. Even though the deception was uncovered years later, the French didn’t hesitate: Armstrong had stolen, he was banned, and the stolen goods were taken from him. All of them. Completely.”

Instead, nothing.

Today, we read that Juventus, which two years ago was miraculously saved by the aforementioned plea bargain in sports justice, has now requested a plea bargain from the Rome Prosecutor’s Office to avoid indictment in the criminal courts for the same offenses (those of the Prisma investigation). The deal includes: one year and nine months for former president Andrea Agnelli, one year and six months for former general manager Fabio Paratici, one year and two months for former vice-president Pavel Nedved, one year and six months for Cesare Gabasio, one year for Stefano Cerrato, and so on. The former executives have agreed to pay compensation to CONSOB and the 200 civil parties involved in the proceedings. On September 22, Judge Anna Maria Gavoni will rule on the plea bargain request. Needless to say, the ending of this story is already sadly predictable: the plea bargain will be accepted. As the French say: ça va sans dire.

While the Rome Prosecutor’s Office still has other ongoing investigations into new offenses alleged by CONSOB and the Prosecutor against the Bianconeri club in more recent times—offenses that also implicate the new management and leadership (as I discussed in my article yesterday titled: “After the 2023 Sanctions, Juventus Faces New Risks of Penalties in Serie A and Disqualification in Europe: It Will Soon Have to Answer for New Offenses (and Recidivism Puts It in Trouble)”), this latest plea bargain request in the criminal courts—which, as mentioned, includes a commitment to compensate the damage caused by Juventus executives to CONSOB and the 200 civil parties—is yet another glaring demonstration of how Juventus has engaged in illicit behavior for years. Returning to the sporting realm, these actions have seriously and persistently undermined the integrity of the championships and competitions in which the club participated. To put it plainly: Juventus has won Scudetti, Italian Cups, and Super Cups, and obtained economic rewards and benefits for the titles won and the Champions League qualifications achieved year after year, dishonestly and illegally.

Juventus has stolen titles and money from all its rivals, not to mention the millions of Italian sports fans who have been robbed of everything, starting with their passion. The fact that Agnelli and his gang are now seeking a plea bargain and are willing to compensate the affected parties in money to avoid trial and its inevitable consequences—since their position is indefensible—further proves how Agnelli’s Juventus has poisoned the world of football, just as it did during the dark years of Calciopoli, straddling the old and new millennium, with another gang of unscrupulous executives, the Moggi-Giraudo syndicate and the Juventus-federation-referee criminal association that for over a decade trampled every rule.

For someone like me, who since the 1990s has never stopped denouncing the misdeeds of this vile club and its vile executives, who have done so much to undermine me and try in every way to silence me, all this is revolting. But the greatest disgust doesn’t come from this. The real disgust stems from recognizing the total indifference, if not complicity bordering on collusion, that the world I belong to—the world of journalism and media—has established with this cancer that undermines the entire organism of Italian football from within. For decades, there has been a gang of scoundrels, or rather criminals, operating under the same banner, committing every kind of infamy with increasingly brazen, shameless, and unpunished methods. Yet, instead of acting as sentinels and guardians of justice and legality, the media pretend not to see and turn the other way. In practice, they act as lookouts for the thieves.

Words to express my boundless disgust as a man, a journalist, and a citizen have long since run out. The only consolation is that, every evening and every morning, I can still look at myself in the mirror. In the face of all this, nothing else matters.

However, I won’t sign off before suggesting, if you have five more minutes and a bit of patience left, that you read this article I wrote for Poisoned Ball on May 21, 2023, exactly nine days before the FIGC and Juventus concocted the shameful plea bargain deal worth 718,000 euros that saved them from relegation, as I mentioned. You’ll learn about a fact you’re likely unaware of, which the media at the time were careful not to report (or if they did, they buried it in two poorly written lines tucked away in some parenthesis). I’m talking about the plea bargain of shame that, according to regulations, could not be agreed upon or granted in any way. And indeed, the CONI General Prosecutor’s Office initially rejected it, sending the two lovers—the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office of Chinè-Gravina and Juventus—packing with losses. Nine days later, however…

Shocking: The FIGC Prosecutor’s Office Agreed on the Fine, the NO Came from the CONI Prosecutor’s Office

It’s not true that Chinè had rejected Elkann’s proposal to exit the sports trials by paying a hefty fine: he had accepted it, but fortunately, the CONI Prosecutor’s Office rejected it with losses

Paolo Ziliani, May 21, 2023

Once again, we narrowly escaped disaster. It’s rare, but the crucial news is that the Great Collusion between Juventus and the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office, or simply the FIGC, long bound by amorous ties, risked producing the ugly mess of the club’s full acquittal and escape from all trials and the threat of any sporting sanctions, in exchange for simply paying a hefty fine. But the real bombshell is that, contrary to what had been leaked in previous days, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office was in agreement with this deal and had said yes. Fortunately, the agreement reached between Scanavino and Calvo on one side and Chinè on the other was submitted to the CONI General Prosecutor’s Office, which sent it back to the senders—because there’s a recidivism issue that, in reality, does not allow for any plea bargain. Since the violations in question involve breaching Article 4, that of sporting fairness, and the violation of Article 4 was the basis for the conviction of top executives Agnelli, Arrivabene, Paratici, and Cherubini in the capital gains trial—convicted definitively with no further chance of appeal (a points deduction for the club is expected tomorrow)—recidivism kicks in, as the violations in the second proceeding perfectly overlap with those of the first. Therefore, according to regulations, no plea bargain is possible.

Good to know, of course. Because by now, we’re at the level of a shell game: and before the new trial begins, anything can be expected. The Great Swindle has been, at least for now, thwarted. And for that, we must thank the CONI Prosecutor’s Office: if it had been up to Chinè and Gravina’s FIGC, the president concerned with “safeguarding the extraordinary Juventus brand for the good of Italian football,” they’d already be signing deals for Mac Allister and Milinkovic Savic at Continassa and announcing the presentation of Guardiola or Zidane.

It’s rare, I said. The last time was on August 1, 2012, when Antonio Conte, coach of—guess who?—yes, Juventus, heavily implicated in the betting scandal for offenses committed during his time at Siena in Serie B, in the matches Novara-Siena and Albinoleffe-Siena, reached an agreement with the Chinè of the time, Prosecutor Palazzi, who had interrogated him while offering tea and pastries (so the chronicles reported), to atone for his sins with a three-month suspension and a 200,000-euro fine. Well, the president of the Disciplinary Commission, Sergio Artico, firmly rejected the plea bargain agreement, deeming it inadequate, and sentenced Conte to a 10-month suspension, which was quickly confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice, whose president, Sandulli, stated: “Conte got off lightly; in one of the two cases, he was given the benefit of the doubt, but in the other, if sporting fraud had been charged, he risked a three-year ban.” And further: “More than failure to report (referring to the Albinoleffe-Siena match, ed.), something else could have been hypothesized. If Prosecutor Palazzi had proposed sporting fraud, it would have been more consistent with the legal issue at hand.”

You read that right. Eleven years ago, there was Antonio Conte, Juventus coach, implicated in a clear case of sporting fraud (as a judge says) who was first spared by the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office with a charge of failure to report instead of fraud and reached a plea bargain for a three-month suspension to be served in the summer (fortunately rejected by the Disciplinary Commission). Today, there’s Juventus, which, despite convictions already received by its top executives for sporting fraud due to violation of Article 4 in the capital gains trial (a points deduction in the standings arrives tomorrow), faces a maxi-trial where the violation of Article 4 is charged across four investigative strands—salary maneuvers, colluding agents, and friendly clubs—all far more serious than the capital gains strand. Yet, it reaches a plea bargain with an utterly spineless FIGC Prosecutor’s Office, paying a hefty fine to walk away unscathed from all its legal troubles. It’s a bit like someone stealing 100 million euros from a bank, getting reported, pleading a 10-million-euro fine, and going home to enjoy the 90 million stolen. And then starting again, since it’s so convenient.

Danger averted, fortunately. But beware: there’s plenty of time to try again, and the audacity isn’t lacking. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chinè knock on the Federal Court’s door with a new plea bargain proposal before the trial begins. What will our heroes come up with next? The cries of pain from Abodi, then Giorgetti, and Gravina in recent hours after the news—which they were informed of in advance—of the plea bargain’s failure don’t bode well. Chinè would be capable of going to the Federal Court with a plea bargain draft that has Juventus reciting three “Pater Ave Gloria” prayers three times a day until August 20, the start of the new Serie A season. There’d be nothing to be surprised about.

Because this is the country we live in. The country of Abodi, Giorgetti, and Gravina. The country of football with a worm inside.