Bari Calcio bankruptcy: Luigi and Aurelio De Laurentiis under investigation

Searches are currently being carried out at the premises of SSC Bari, SSC Napoli and Filmauro srl as part of an investigation by the Guardia di Finanza, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bari, targeting Luigi and Aurelio De Laurentiis.

The two men – the former sole director of SSC Bari and his father, the chairman of Napoli’s board of directors and legal representative of Filmauro – are under investigation for the offences of false corporate reporting (Bari Calcio’s financial statements for the 2024 financial year) and fraudulent bankruptcy in connection with the application to initiate judicial liquidation proceedings, filed due to the insolvency of the Bari-based football club.

The measure stems – as explained by the Guardia di Finanza, which is carrying out the searches on the orders of the Bari Public Prosecutor’s Office – from an in-depth analysis of the financial statements, notes to the accounts and management reports of the Bari-based company, supported by technical expert reports; the findings of which revealed that SSC Bari, which is suffering from systemic losses (approximately 30 million euros over the period 2019–2025), ‘is burdened by a significant capital shortfall and substantial debt exposure, in the absence of a concrete recovery plan’.

Among the allegations levelled by the Bari Public Prosecutor’s Office against Luigi and Aurelio De Laurentiis is the transfer of a player, the goalkeeper Elia Caprile. The ongoing searches, in fact, also concern three sporting directors and a football agent – none of whom are under investigation – who are alleged to have been involved, in various capacities, in the transfer of Caprile between the two clubs, SSC Bari and SSC Napoli, for which, – as the Gdf explains – the Bari club’s financial statements are believed to have ‘contained material misstatements, or omitted information that was necessary for a proper assessment of the club’s economic, asset and financial position’. In particular, after purchasing Caprile’s registration rights from the English football club Leeds FC – for which it had agreed to pay bonuses linked to any future resale value – Bari Calcio is alleged to have in turn sold him to Napoli for 2.2 million euros in July 2023. The problem, according to the investigators, is the absence of ‘any clause providing for a share in future capital gains’. These capital gains did in fact materialise, as Caprile was subsequently sold to Cagliari Calcio for around 8 million euros. Those subject to the searches in connection with this case (who are not under investigation) are the sporting directors of Bari, Ciro Polito, and Napoli, Cristiano Giuntoli until June 2023 and Mauro Meluso from July 2023 to May 2024, as well as Caprile’s agent, Graziano Battistini.