Investigation on De Laurentiis: after Osimhen in Manolas' crosshairs

The Rome prosecutor's office has closed the investigation against Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, in which the crime of false accounting is being contested in relation to the purchase from Roma of defender Kostas Manolas in the summer of 2019. The investigation is in addition to that on the Victor Osimhen case, who landed at Napoli from French side Lille in 2020. For the latter allegation, the Capitoline prosecutors had closed the investigation last January. Both operations ended up in the crosshairs of the Capitoline Prosecutor's Office, as Filmauro's headquarters are in Rome. The Napoli owner's lawyers, Lorenzo Contrada and Fabio Fulgeri, have announced that their client is ready to be heard by the investigators, as had already happened in the spring for the Osimhen affair, 'to clarify the whole affair'. After De Laurentiis' deposition, a decision will be made on whether to dismiss the case or send the Napoli president to trial.

The signing of Manolas was one of the market shots of the summer session of Napoli in 2018, which paid him 36 million to Roma, equal to the rescission clause. The deal allowed Roma to score a capital gain of around €31.1m, which was recorded in the balance sheet ended 30 June 2019. Kostas Manolas returned to his homeland in December 2021, moving to Olympiacos. Around €3 million went to Napoli. In the same market window, Napoli sold Amadou Diawara to Roma, realising a capital gain of more than 10 million, which is also the subject of the investigation. It remains to be understood the degree of Roma's involvement at the time in the hands of James Pallotta, given that the surplus was booked by Roma. And according to prosecutors Lorenzo De Giudice and Giorgio Orano, proceedings are underway for hypothetical offences in which revenues were inflated through illicit economic operations, such as fictitious capital gains, involving a fraudulent agreement between the selling and buying club.

The Manolas deal was already mentioned in the act of conclusion of the investigation that the Capitoline prosecutors served last May on the former Roma owners, including Mauro Baldissoni and other executives, as part of the investigation into capital gains in a series of negotiations for the purchase and sale of a number of players including Defrel, Marchizza and Frattesi, Zaniolo, Santon and Nainggolan as well as Cristante, Tumminello, Spinazzola and Luca Pellegrini.

As for the Nigerian striker, who now plays on loan in Turkey, the deal that brought him to wear the Napoli jersey saw the simultaneous sale to Lille for a total capital gain of just under EUR 20 million of Oreste Karnezis, valued at EUR 5 million, and three young players from the youth sector (Claudio Manzi, Ciro Palmieri and Luigi Liguori) valued at between EUR 4 and 7 million. According to Napoli's balance sheet for the year ending 30 June 2021, Osimhen was paid 76.4 million, gross of what Napoli got from the disposals of the four players.

Napoli and its management had been charged with two offences by the investigators, tax fraud and false accounting. On the first count (tax fraud), the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office had dismissed the case on the grounds that the alleged capital gain did not bring any tax advantage. On the other charge (false accounting), the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office had forwarded the files to the Capital Prosecutors for lack of territorial jurisdiction (De Laurentiis' Filmauro having its registered office in Rome). From the criminal point of view, the file was transferred to Rome in June 2022.