On Monday, the board as a whole resigned in the company’s best interests.
Andrea Agnelli, president of Juventus, was in office for 12 years. During that time, the club experienced record losses.
The Serie A club denied any wrongdoing and faces indictment.
It claimed that the allegations made by public attorneys were not substantiated. “The accounting treatment used in the contested financial statements falls within the permitted accounting principles.”
“Juventus FC is convinced that it has always behaved correctly, and intends asserting its reasons and defending its corporate, economic, and sporting interests at all forums,” concluded the statement.
The other members of the board facing indictment include Pavel Nedved (ex-vice president) and Maurizio Avabene (ex-chief executive).
The problems of Juventus appeared to get worse after Uefa, European football’s governing body announced that it was investigating possible violations of financial fair play regulations and club licensing.
Last year, an investigation was launched into claims of artificial gains made by club transfers or loans in 2018-2020. Additionally, investors were allegedly provided false accounting information regarding transactions that were not supposed to have taken place.
In November 2021, the headquarters of Juventus was raided by police officers from Italy’s Guardia di Finanza.
Prosecutors claimed that the club’s losses were much higher than they had disclosed in its three seasons between 2018 and 2020. The loss was EUR239m in 2019 (PS204m) rather than EUR89m.
Last season, Juventus recorded a record loss at EUR254.3m.
Italian reports claim that millions of euro were spent on artificial capital gains, as well as savings from player salary cuts.
Juventus stated that 23 players had agreed for reduced wages for four consecutive months before the outbreak of coronavirus. But, the prosecutors have proven it to have only lasted one month.
Consob, an Italian market regulator, participated in the inquiry as Juventus is listed at the Milan stock exchange.
Juventus argued in its statement that Consob didn’t mention false accounting and that the value of capital gains was much lower than what prosecutors had stated.
It stated that nine members of the board came to an unanimous conclusion that the prosecutors’ accusations “didn’t appear to be based” and that the club had always done the right thing.
The club is still managed by the Agnelli family’s Exorholding group. Gianluca ferrero, corporate adviser, was proposed to take over as chairman.
During Andrea Agnelli’s presidency of Juventus, they won nine Serie A titles. However, they were never able the win the coveted Champions League. Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was signed by the club for EUR100m in 2018.
This former boss of Juventus was one of the main figures behind the failed attempt to create a European Super League.