Roma Fire CEO Berardi Over Transfer Investigations

Serie A club Roma announced on Monday that they had terminated the contract of their CEO, Pietro Berardi, as prosecutors investigate the club's past transfer dealings.

In a short statement, Roma stated that Berardi had been removed from his role at the club and other businesses within its parent company Friedkin Group, "with immediate effect".

However, Roma did not provide any details regarding the reasons for Berardi's dismissal.

This development comes after police carried out searches at Roma's offices earlier this month as part of an investigation into transfers that took place between 2017 and 2021 when the club was still listed on the Milan stock exchange.

Similar searches were also conducted at the offices of fellow Serie A clubs Lazio and Salernitana on the same day.

Transfer dealings have been a major scandal in Italian football over the past year, with Juventus being docked 15 points in January for using transactions to artificially boost their balance sheet.

An appeal on that ruling is set to be heard on April 19.

Juventus is also currently embroiled in a criminal investigation into their finances, with the club and several former directors, including former chairman Andrea Agnelli, facing accusations of various crimes.

In addition, prosecutors in Naples are conducting a probe into the big-money deal that took Victor Osimhen from Lille to Napoli, which involved four players valued at around 20 million euros moving to Lille, three of whom never played for the French club.

The investigation into transfer dealings continues to rock Italian football, with clubs and officials facing legal scrutiny and potential repercussions.

Roma's decision to sack their CEO amidst this ongoing probe adds another layer of complexity to the situation and raises further questions about the integrity of transfer dealings in Italian football.