De Laurentiis testified to the Prosecutor’s Office about signing Osimhen

The president of Naples, Aurelio De Laurentiisdeclared this Wednesday before the Rome Prosecutor’s Office in the framework of the investigation for the possible crime of accounting fraud related to the migration of the Nigerian Victor Osimhen, which he signed from French side Lille in the summer of 2020.

The film producer met with prosecutors for more than an hour and left the facilities without making any statements to the media, although Napoli said in an official statement that the president himself requested a meeting with the authorities.

Investigated since June 2023

“Aurelio De Laurentiis requested and obtained a hearing from the Rome Prosecutor’s Office in the framework of the ongoing investigation into the sale of footballer Victor Osimhen,” the club reported on its official ‘X’ account.

So far, no information has emerged regarding the court appearance of De Laurentiis, who is being investigated by the ordinary and sports courts, although he has not received any accusations from the authorities.

It cost 76 million and paid 56

The investigation into the Italian president began in June 2023, when by order of the Neapolitan Prosecutor’s Office the ‘Guardia di Finanza’ (fiscal police affairs), a body dependent on the Italian Ministry of Economy, carried out searches to the Naples offices in search of relevant documents in the purchase and sale of striker Victor Osimhen for a sum close to 76 million euros in summer 2020.

Of that 76 million eurosNaples paid only 56 and the operation included four players, three of them youth players, who were transferred for 20 million euros from the Italian team to the French team in the same transfer market.

The center of suspicion

It is certain this part of the operation is suspect for allegedly fictitious capital gains, a method consisting of inflating the market value of footballers in order to generate greater profits or minimize losses.

is Orestis Karnezis, Claudio Manzi, Ciro Palmieri and Luigi Liguori (the last three of the second team), for which Lille paid Napoli a total of close to 20 million euros and they never played for Lille.

His family and Napoli, are also suspects

In addition to De Laurentiis, his wife Jacqueline Baudit, his son Edoardo and his daughter Valentina They have also been registered in the register of suspects of the Prosecutor’s Office, along with the rest of the Board of Directors of Napoli.

The transfer last August from Naples to Rome of the investigation into the alleged fictitious capital gains surrounding the purchase of Osimhen was due to the fact that it was in the Italian capital that the budget for operation.