Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Napoli Chief De Laurentiis, Club Ordered to Stand Trial for False Accounting in Rome

The case centers on alleged inflated player valuations in the Manolas and Osimhen deals.

Overview

  • Rome’s preliminary hearings judge sent Aurelio De Laurentiis, CEO Andrea Chiavelli and SSC Napoli to trial, setting the first hearing for 2 December 2026.
  • Prosecutors contest the club’s 2019–2021 accounts, focusing on capital gains tied to Kostas Manolas’s transfer in 2019 and Victor Osimhen’s 2020 move from Lille.
  • In the Osimhen operation, investigators say part of the roughly €71 million price was covered by assigning multi‑million values to Orestis Karnezis and youth players Ciro Palmieri, Claudio Manzi and Luigi Liguori.
  • The Guardia di Finanza conducted searches at FilmAuro in Rome and at Napoli’s Castelvolturno base, and prosecutors questioned De Laurentiis in April 2024.
  • Defense lawyers said they were surprised by the ruling, arguing accounting principles were misapplied and that prosecutors themselves acknowledged Napoli gained no advantage, while the FIGC has not reopened a sports case so no sporting penalties apply.