Sport as a forefront for money laundering

Never had I thought of sports as anything more than an avenue to build a career on and also earn a living from engaging in it? In summary sports as a medium to make money and also to entertain. These two words go side by side with each other.

I for one have never believed that sports could be used as a front for money laundering. I have never for once thought of it but with how unpredictable life is, it's time to start taking a proper check on all sport-related activities.

Being a football fan, I wrote an article regarding Chelsea sacking leopard and I saw a comment which blew my mind. The comment was well structured and it's evident the writer knew exactly what he was saying.

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According to @betman, he thought that the Chelsea team was just a forefront for money laundering. In his words, he said;

It’s not Chelsea, @lebey1. The team is Abramovic’s money-laundering toy. It’s a theater to hide the real business. And the theater must be an interesting one to serve the purpose. Lampard was simply not fun enough any more…

Now at first, I didn't read meaning into the message as I thought that the comment might have been from a bitter place. Reason being that a lot of top governments in powerful nations kept on passing a memo that cryptocurrency was used for money laundering.

 

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A lot of cryptos enthusiasts argued that the real problem is not the crypto per say, as they are just a medium of exchange just like money. They pointed out that the real problem is the users who use cryptocurrency for fraudulent activities. Many opinioned that other well-established institutions are mediums and tools for money laundering and should be looked into.

Although at the time of writing, they have been no evidence that any Chelsea football team has been helping launder money. Although they are questionable facts on figures been spent in football and the exorbitant fee charged to sign players. While many might argue that those figures are sometimes hiked, it's still yet to be confirmed by the financial authorities in charge of these things.

Although they have been unconfirmed cases of premier league teams being involved in money laundering and smuggling. While those cases might remain forever unconfirmed are because premier league teams are well funded and well connected and also well protected too.

According to a report of some British men been arrested by the French police in 2010, it was reported the men were arrested in exotic cars which has a compartment for drugs and money. When the arrested men were further probed, they revealed that the millions in the cars were money gotten from premier league football transfer bungs.

According to an article written by Anne which was titled "Money Laundering And Football; Some Rather Interesting Examples", it gave four examples of clear money laundering cases involving top personality and it's sad not to see these cases being prosecuted. According to this article top, football personalities are teams that have been said to be involved with money laundering.

Personalities and names mentioned are top football manager, Harry Redknapp, Porto football club was also mentioned, FC Barcelona along with their ex-president Sandro Rosell got mentioned too and of course, Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) got a mention too.

While FIFA and UEFA head might have been caught in their role in fostering fraud in football, the criminal activities run even deeper beyond what is seen. While Sepp blatter and Micheal Platini might have been exiled from football, the underground criminal activities still exist and operate.

To this date, money laundering is still one issue in sport and it's not being talked about enough. Fraud and racism might have been fought to a certain extent but money laundering seems to be more organized and it even involves higher authorities.

While cases of money laundering remain unconfirmed in the English Premier League, they have been visible traces in other leagues such as the Italian Serie A and laliga. Juventus who has been a serial winner of the Serie A title and has been one of the best teams in the division has found itself in criminal investigations on more than one occasion.

There was a period they were convicted of match-fixing and they were punished by being demoted to Serie B, coupled with that, they were stripped of the title won that season also. Also in 2018, former Juventus player, Vincenzo Iaquinta had to serve a two-year jail term for a gun-related offense which was in connection with the Ndrangheta clan.

Ndrangheta clan is better known as the Calabrian mafia. They were once involved in ticket touting in the Juventus stand. Juventus managers were later found guilty by the Italy Supreme Court for providing match tickets meant for profit by the ultras in 2019. Although none of this was directly involved with the Juventus team but some people around the team have been involved.

A viral case of money laundering also saw Messi named being mentioned. Although this time it was Jorge Messi (Messi's father) who was also the footballer agent as of that time. He was also involved with money laundering activities which involved laundering money on behalf of Colombia drug cartels.

According to reports, it was said that Messi's father had organized a charity match named "Messi and Friends" which was to be a tour across cities. According to an eye witness, ticket sales were all accounted for as sell out while in fact, they were more than half of empty seats. Jorge Messi was prosecuted but it was not affiliated with any football teams.

Even Massimo Zamparini, the former Palermo president was banned from football for five years for his money-laundering role. According to an article published by football Italia blog, it was reported that he was able to achieve this false accounting and money laundering through the selling of one of his company to another company he owned. The articles report that;

It quickly emerged he had established a company called Mepal to own the Rosanero brand, which was then sold to Luxembourgish enterprise Alyssa for €1m in 2017.

Alyssa, it seems, was also owned by Zamparini, and the accusation was that he created a €1m boost to the club coffers by using his own money to artificially inflate the value of the ‘brand’ and bypass the Italian financial fair play rules.

While this frauds and money act still find a way to be steered off football is a mystery. It shows the higher power which protects them and if it comes to the worst, an individual or two is been sacrificed.

A study published by Mark Conrad on April 2nd, 2019 revealed various ways in which money laundering is been carried out in football. According to the article titled "Football Money Laundering: a Beginner’s Guide", which was published on the bylinetimes.com website by Mark Conrad, confirmed that aside from match-fixing as a medium of money laundering, other method includes activities such as;

mixing legitimate monies with illegal funds, through cash gate receipts, inflating staff or player salaries, over or under-valuing player transfer fees, payments to agents or third-parties, club sponsorships, TV rights deals, community-based spending programs, and directors or owners loans to the club.