FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Serie A - Torino v Juventus - Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy - October 15, 2022 Juventus president Andrea Agnelli before the match REUTERS/Massimo Pinca/File Photo
ROME (Reuters) -A judge on Monday accepted a plea bargain request by former Juventus executives, including ex-chairman Andrea Agnelli, to settle a false accounting case relating to their time with Italy's most successful soccer club.
Rome court judge Anna Maria Gavoni accepted a plea bargain of one year and eight months for Agnelli, and one year and two months for ex-vice chairman and Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedved.
The agreed prison sentences have been suspended and will not be served. Under Italian law, such plea bargaining does not involve an admission of guilt.
The judge also imposed a fine of 156,000 euros ($184,000) on Juventus.
For one of the defendants, former CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, the case was ultimately dismissed.
The "bianconeri" football club said in a statement that it had opted for the plea bargain "in the best interest of the company itself, its shareholders and all stakeholders".
Juventus also reiterated "the correctness of its conduct and the soundness of its defensive arguments".
The case revolved around allegations that Juventus misrepresented its financial statements, particularly in relation to player transfers and salary arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors had initially filed charges in Turin, where Juventus are based, but the case was transferred to Rome in 2023.
In June, former chairman Agnelli and other defendants asked the judge to settle the case through a plea bargain, after prosecutors had sought to bring them to trial on charges including stock market manipulation, obstruction of supervision and false invoicing.
The former managers and Juventus, which is listed on the Milan stockexchange, havedenied wrongdoing.
The club previously agreed to pay a fine in a separate settlement with Italy’s football authorities, which also led to points deductions during the 2022-2023 Serie A season and a one-year ban from European competitions.
($1 = 0.8488 euros)
(Reporting by Paolo Chiriatti, writing by Elvira Pollina,Editing by Keith Weir and Ed Osmond)
