Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has officially been indicted on charges of false accounting tied to the high-profile transfers of Victor Osimhen and Kostas Manolas.
De Laurentiis was indicted by Rome’s preliminary hearing judge for alleged false accounting across the 2019, 2020 and 2021 financial years.
Prosecutors claim the club artificially inflated capital gains in two major transfers, Manolas from Roma in 2019 and Osimhen from Lille in 2020 to strengthen Napoli’s financial position on paper.
Aurelio De Laurentiis President of SSC Napoli celebrates their Serie A title win. (Photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images)
The indictment also extends to CEO Andrea Chiavelli and the club itself, marking one of the most serious legal challenges in De Laurentiis’ 20-year tenure.
According to the prosecution, Napoli booked “fictitious profits” through inflated player valuations, violating financial reporting rules.
Napoli’s lawyers have fiercely contested the charges, calling the ruling “astonishing,” arguing that prosecutors misapplied accounting principles, and emphasising that “Napoli gained no financial advantage” from either deal.
The club issued a strong statement reinforcing their confidence, citing independent technical reports that confirmed the accuracy of their bookkeeping. They further stressed that a similar charge tied to the same investigative file was dismissed for Inter, an argument they believe strengthens their defence.
Victor Osimhen enjoyed huge success at Napoli. (Photo by Matteo Ciambelli / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Still, with the first courtroom hearing scheduled for December 2, 2026, the case marks the beginning of a long and high-stakes legal battle for Napoli’s hierarchy.
The biggest focus of the investigation is the €76 million Osimhen deal of 2020, which included four Napoli youth players – Oreste Karnezis, Claudio Manzi, Ciro Palmieri and Luigi Liguori, valued collectively at nearly €20m.
Italian investigators believe these valuations were artificially inflated to disguise capital gains, a technique similar to those that triggered major sanctions elsewhere in Serie A.
