The preliminary hearing of the Prisma Investigation involving Juventus was postponed to May 10, 2023 as announced on Monday. The ongoing investigation was started by the Turin Prosecutor's office over the club's financial statements with the Bianconeri accused of false accounting, market manipulation and false corporate disclosures. In particular, prosecutors believe that Juventus, between 2019 and 2021, have made use of several capital gains to cover gaps in the financial statements.
The Prisma investigation involves several former Juventus directors including current Tottenham's Fabio Paratici, and the club's former chairman Andrea Agnelli and former vice-president Pavel Nedved who resigned at the end of November in a shock move. Agnelli took charge of the club in 2010 after some difficult years, especially in 2006 when Juventus were at the center of the Calciopoli scandal that relegated the Italian side to the second division. Later, under Agnelli, Juventus managed to win nine Serie A titles in a row, from 2011 to 2020.
Juventus' recent financial statements went under scrutiny by prosecutors and Italian market regulator CONSOB in the past months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. The club acknowledged the so-called "salary maneuvers" from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years, adding that "the complexity of such profiles on valuation elements may be subject to different interpretations." A new board was formed at the beginning of January, appointing Gianluca Ferrero as chairman and Maurizio Scanavino as CEO. Scanavino was interim general director following the board's resignation as well.
"We are still in a phase where the parts involved are being identified," Maurizio Bellacosa, one the club's lawyers told reporters on Monday after the postponement of the hearing. "It will be completed in the next hearing on May 10, and, if there is time, the preliminary hearing will immediately begin, also deciding on the territorial jurisdiction." The lawyers of the club believe that the case should be moved to another city like Milan or Rome, while the Prosecutors insist the case should stay in Turin.
Juventus are being investigated for the so called capital gains deals, which means Juventus swapped players with another club involved for a fee without actually moving money between the two parties involved in the deal. Also, the Italian club is accused of having provided false information about two different salary maneuvers that took place in 2020 during the pandemic.
While the Bianconeri are now waiting for the preliminary hearing to take place in May, on April 19th Juventus will know the outcome of their appeal against the 15-points deduction from the Italian FA (FIGC).
