Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis To Stand Trial Over Alleged False Accounting In Osimhen Transfer

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has been formally indicted and will face trial for alleged false accounting linked to the club’s 2020 signing of Victor Osimhen from Lille. A Rome judge ruled that De Laurentiis, his longtime associate Andrea Chiavelli, and Napoli itself must answer charges related to falsified financial statements for the 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons.

Prosecutors allege that the valuations of four players sent to Lille as part of the Osimhen deal — goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis and Primavera prospects Claudio Manzi, Luigi Palmieri, and Christian Liguori — were artificially inflated to generate fictitious capital gains and improve the club’s balance sheet.

The case also includes the 2019 transfer of Kostas Manolas from Roma, where midfielder Amadou Diawara was reportedly overvalued in the exchange.

The trial is scheduled to begin on December 2, 2026.

De Laurentiis’ lawyers called the decision “astonishing” and insisted there were clear grounds for dismissal, stating:
“We are absolutely astonished. The Guardia di Finanza misapplied accounting principles, and even the public prosecutors stated that Napoli did not obtain any advantage from these operations.”

Napoli maintain that all transactions were lawful and regular. No sporting sanctions are expected at this stage.