The last few months have produced some of the most scandalous sports headlines ever. That includes a federal investigation that forced Mark Walter to sell the Los Angeles Lakers just two years after he acquired the team, and the NBA banning Steve Ballmer from his own arena for 12 months after finding evidence that he circumvented the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard tens of millions in additional compensation. And now we have another that might be even bigger than the rest.
The Premier League announced this week that it has concluded its multi-year investigation into Manchester City. In a 40-page investigative report released on Tuesday, an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of more than 100 charges related to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations.
After reviewing everything from the club’s bank records to executive emails, the Premier League determined that 1) Manchester City artificially inflated its annual revenues by arranging “sham” contracts with commercial partners in Abu Dhabi and 2) Manchester City also artificially reduced its expenses by secretly funneling additional money to the club’s players via lucrative deals for their image rights.
Here’s how each scheme worked:
