Agnelli among former Juve chiefs convicted for financial crimes after plea bargain

Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli was one of three ex-directors handed suspended prison sentences on Monday after a plea bargain deal over accounting irregularities between 2019 and 2021.

Agnelli, whose powerful family has long controlled Juve, was given a sentence of one year and eight months for charges including fraud and market manipulation.

The charges related to artificial inflation of capital gains from transfers and misleading authorities about players foregoing wages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Juve icon and former vice-president Pavel Nedved was sentenced to one year and two months while former sporting director Fabio Paratici received a punishment of one year and six months.

Former CEO Maurizio Arrivabene was acquitted of all charges.

Agnelli insisted that the plea bargain was not an admission of guilt, as did Juventus who were fined 157,000 euros.

“The decision to request the application of a suspended sentence… has been an undoubtedly difficult one,” said Agnelli in a statement.

“After much reflection, I am convinced it is the most appropriate path, given that this criminal proceeding, initiated nearly four years ago, remains at the preliminary hearing stage, and the alternative would have been an indefinite limbo dragging on for many more years.”

The rulings end the last of a series of legal troubles from a scandal which rocked Italian football’s most widely-supported club and led to a 10-point deduction during the 2022-23 season.

Agnelli stepped down as Juve chairman alongside the rest of the board in late 2022. He was then given two bans by the Italian Football Federation the following year — one for two years and another for 16 months.