Infront Sports & Media has confirmed that the prosecutor of Milan opened an investigation on Friday against Marco Bogarelli, the president of the agency’s Italy division, and associates Andrea Locatelli and Giuseppe Ciocchetti.
The probe is in relation to “an alleged contribution to undue financing practices in Italian club football and an alleged manipulation of the administrative process” of the rights tender for the three seasons of the top-tier Serie A, from 2015-16 to 2017-18.
The agency added that Infront itself is not being investigated. “Infront and its local management are co-operating with the authorities to establish the accuracy or otherwise of the claims,” the agency said.
Tax consultant Andrea Baroni was arrested on Friday on charges of criminal association aimed at money laundering and tax evasion in relation to the case, but Infront said it “does not have and has never had” any business relationship with him.
It emerged yesterday (Tuesday) that documents were confiscated from Lega Serie A offices and several clubs as part of the ongoing investigation by the country's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza.
In May, police carried out searches of the offices of Italian media company Mediaset, pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia and Infront, Serie A’s exclusive adviser for the national and international media rights, as part of the probe.
The investigation is focusing on sublicensing deals between Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium’s parent company RTI for domestic Serie A coverage over three years, from 2015-16 to 2017-18.