Milan is going through a complex situation, since it risks a economic and sporting sanction that could impact Serie A and leave him out of European competitions if it is confirmed that he did not legally carry out the sale of the club.
The historic Italian club was in the eye of the storm, since there would be simulated the sale of the entity between the American funds Elliot Management and RedBird, which is its new owner.
The Italian Finance Guard (financial police) today searched Milan’s headquarters in search of documents that corroborate the transfer between both investment funds, now in doubt, since everything indicates that it is still the Elliot fund who maintains control of the team.
Elliot Management is the vulture fund managed by the well-known Paul Singery is the man investigated by Italian justice due to the possible “fictitious sale” of Milan.
The trigger for everything would have been the appearance of a millionaire Arab group: “It seems that there are Milan documents used to obtain investors from Arab funds. And they could be a kind of recognition of the ownership of the Elliot fund and not the current RedBird fund,” lawyer Angelo Cascella assured him.
“The members of Milan’s board of directors are many of those who were in the old one, with Elliot. The company in charge of communication is the same. Furlani, the club’s current executive director, was on Elliot’s board of directors,” Cascella pointed out.
“All these aspects together suggest that the sale is fictitious, simulated. This is, in any case, the beginning. It is necessary to see everything, verify everything,” he pointed out.
The hypothesis that the Milan Prosecutor’s Office is working on is that of a crime of “obstruction of the supervisory activity” of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) about the legal requirements of companies that own soccer teams, since they would not have correctly communicated their change of ownership.
“If Milan has lied, hiding a property that does not correspond to what they say it is, the club could be sanctioned either with an exclusion from UEFA competitions; or with financial fines; or reaching an agreement with UEFA (not signing in some window, not spending more than an agreed amount…)”, declared lawyer Angelo Cascella, expert in sports law and former member of the European Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
This case is compared to what Juventus went through a while ago. “The FIGC will now open a file in which it will have to investigate and ask the prosecutor’s office for all the documents, which will help the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office to assess whether there were illegalities,” Cascella explained.
“The regulations provide that the main issue is non-compliance with article 32 and that there has been a simulation of a sale for which Elliot remains the owner,” Cascella said.
“If the Milan company does not correctly communicate its structure, in bad faith, it receives a sanction. Financial fine and/or penalty points (Series A),” said the lawyer.
Article 20 bis of the CJD also provides that “the information on corporate participations must be correct”, so sporting and economic sanctions could be added.
And article 4 of the CJD, for which Juve was sanctioned last season, speaks of “loyalty and honesty”: “Every person who signs up for the CJD has to be loyal and honest. Juve was condemned for the lack of loyalty and honesty and 10 points were taken away,” Cascella recalled.
Besides, the UEFA would intercede for timeshare ownership, since Elliott owns the Lille and would infringe two key articles, 4 and 5. 5 refers to timeshare, where an owner (or team) cannot have two teams entered in the same competition. Lille and Milan competed in the Europa League this season.
“And number 4, even more important: procedure and admission to competitions. If Milan has lied, hiding property that does not correspond, the club could be sanctioned or with an exclusion from competitions; or with financial fines; or reaching a agreement with UEFA (not signing in any window, not spending more than a certain amount)”, Cascella pointed out.
The possible sanctions, both of the UEFA like the FIGC, will not arrive on time this season if irregularities are certified.
“Times are important and the path forward for the Milan has only just begun, it will be a long process and, if there are sanctions because irregularities and crime are demonstrated, they will be for the next campaign,” commented the expert.
Furthermore, the ordinary Italian justice system will act on its own and, when the time comes, the sanctions could be different; even being found guilty of a sporting offense and not a criminal offence.
Source: Ambito
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