Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli, along with the soccer team’s entire board of directors, late on Monday resigned amid a probe into alleged wrongdoing related to the company’s last-three-year financial filings.
“We are facing a delicate moment as a company and the unity has failed,” Agnelli said on Monday in a letter to employees, which was viewed by Bloomberg. “It is better to leave everyone together, giving the possibility to a new team to overturn that game.”
The dramatic exits follow an investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in Turin and the Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) into some of the soccer club’s recent financial balance sheets, regarding alleged false accounting and market manipulation.
Photo: AFP
Juventus said it would have to restate its financial statement for this year, after a review of how players were accounted for.
The team added that it had amended its balance sheets, to be approved by shareholders on Dec. 27.
The club has denied any wrongdoing.
Since 2010, Juventus won nine consecutive Serie A titles under the leadership of Andrea Agnelli. However, his reputation suffered after his attempt at leading the so-called European Super League, a project that crumbled just days after its launch as teams pulled out after drawing ire from fans, politicians and sports officials.
The Agnelli family, which founded automaker Fiat SpA nearly 125 years ago, manages most of its properties through holding company Exor NV. It also controls Ferrari NV, CNH Industrial NV and media publisher The Economist Group Ltd, and is the largest single investor in Stellantis NV.
The Agnelli family has owned Juventus since 1923, and manages it through Exor, led by CEO John Elkann.
Juventus deputy chairman Pavel Nedved and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene offered to resign, but the board of directors asked Arrivabene to stay in the job, the letter said.
The company also said it had appointed Maurizio Scanavino as general manager, and Gianluca Ferrero as chairman.
Scanavino is CEO and general manager of GEDI Gruppo Editoriale SpA, the media company owned by the Agnelli family. Tax adviser Ferrero holds positions at shipbuilder Fincantieri SpA and Luigi Lavazza SpA
In September, Juventus reported a 254 million euros (US$263 million) loss, the largest in Serie A history.
The club attributed the poor figures for the 2021-2022 season partly to the effects of COVID-19 and due to an early exit from the UEFA Champions League.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite