• UglyWanKanobi@alien.topOPB
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    11 months ago

    Chelsea FC face fresh questions over how its former owner Roman Abramovich funded the club’s success, after leaked files revealed a string of secret payments that may have breached strict football rules, including those on “financial fair play”.

    Experts said the transactions, uncovered through a joint investigation by the Guardian and international partners, could lead to the Premier League imposing punishments on Chelsea, such as a deduction of points.

    The files reveal a series of payments worth tens of millions of pounds over a decade, routed through offshore vehicles belonging to Abramovich. The transactions in question appear to have been for Chelsea’s benefit, raising questions about whether they were declared in accounts submitted to football’s governing bodies.

    • NotClayMerritt@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      You do have to question this entire piece of journalism considering it’s not telling us anything new or groundbreaking. We already know as fact that Clearlake have reported secret payments that were made under previous ownership to the Premier League months ago when going through the club’s finances. I don’t suppose Bruce Buck or Marina are around to face questioning?

      I swear it’s like a new publication gets to write this exact story every couple of weeks (coincidentally the last one came during the last international break aka slow news cycle).

      Next they’re going to tell us we paid Andreas Christensen’s dad as a scout or that we paid Bertrand Traore’s mum - both of which we’ve already served two transfer bans for btw.

      • depressingmirror2@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        Do you not think that maybe that is why Clearlake reported what they did. To muddy the water like this. They report the least damning thing they can find and lump every other accusation in as what they’ve already reported.

      • Rare-Ad-2777@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        They’ve found more payments haven’t they. That’s what this is saying. It’s more of the same stuff. Not looming good for chelsea

      • empiresk@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        You do have to question this entire piece of journalism considering it’s not telling us anything new or groundbreaking.

        Did you read the article? It literally states multiple instances of rule breaches that have not been self reported.

      • Lyrical_Forklift@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        We already know as fact that Clearlake have reported secret payments that were made under previous ownership to the Premier League months ago when going through the club’s finances.

        I don’t think much of it has been leaked to the press though - this is the media doing what the should be doing.

        The question is, what kind of punishments should Chelsea face? If it’s a small points deduction years later, when it ultimately doesn’t matter, then it’s not much of a deterrent to anyone else.

        • not-always-online@alien.topB
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          11 months ago

          The only fair punishment that would also act as a deterrent, is to strip them of all their titles during this period.

    • Darpn@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Sad for the new owners since nobody from the Roman era is still there but I guess they didn’t do the necessary due diligence.

        • ucd_pete@alien.topB
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          11 months ago

          This is separate to the ones Boehly reported. These new transactions became known due journalists investigating dodgy dealings between Cypriot companies and Russians.

    • grchelp2018@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Every time I read about Roman’s financial transactions, there are new shell companies from the BVI. More shell companies than people have throwaway email/reddit accounts. He must have a dedicated guy on payroll just for naming them.