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The Premier League announced on Tuesday that a three-year review by an independent commission found Manchester City “guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules,” saying the club created “sham” agreements with sponsors, artificially inflated revenues by more than 900 million pounds during a nine-season period, and failed to cooperate in the league investigation.
The league announcement said City created “sham” agreements with sponsors as part of a “disguised funding scheme” where those companies would only pay a portion of the money, while the rest came from the club’s ownership, Abu Dhabi United Group.
The independent commission found the actions artificially increased revenues and reduced costs “by more than £900 million” from 2009 through 2018, leading the club to file accounts that misled auditors and soccer bodies.
“The Commission concluded that ‘by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules,’” the league announcement said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
