On Monday, February 19, 2025, reports emerged that the owner of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis, is facing serious allegations of false accounting.
The Rome public prosecutor’s office has requested his indictment over alleged accounting discrepancies spanning three years, including transfers involving star striker Victor Osimhen and defender Kostas Manolas.
According to multiple Italian outlets such as Sky Sports and La Gazetta dello Sport, De Laurentiis is accused of recording fictitious capital gains in Napoli’s purchase of Osimhen from French club Lille in 2020. The accusation also extends to Manolas’ 2019 transfer from AS Roma to Napoli.
Investigators allege that the two deals artificially inflated player values, creating fictitious profits in the tens of millions by overstating the market value of certain players. Prosecutors Lorenzo Del Giudice and Giorgio Orano have also requested that Napoli, the club, and De Laurentiis’ close associate, Andrea Chiavelli, face trial over the matter.
