Premier League confirm independent Commission finds Manchester City guilty of all financial charges

Premier League confirm independent Commission finds Manchester City guilty of all financial charges

An independent Commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period.

The Premier League has confirmed that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to serious financial breaches between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons.

The independent Commission also found the club guilty of the majority of charges relating to its failure to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation.

The independent Commission stated: “Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.

“The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.

“Manchester City was significantly in breach of both the Premier League’s and UEFA’s spending limits.

“During the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld).

“The independent Commission found that Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club. As part of the scheme, further ‘sham’ arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a ‘sham’ circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club’s players’ image rights, that was funded by ADUG.”