Man City guilty of 'sham' contracts and misleading accounts
An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of over 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018. The club is accused of using sham contracts to disguise over £830 million in funding and artificially inflating revenues.
Why it matters
This case represents a landmark legal challenge to financial fair play regulations in professional sports, potentially leading to unprecedented sanctions for a top-tier club.
Manchester City arranged "sham contracts" with a number of its commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m, the Premier League says.
The League confirmed that City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.
An independent commission found that, during that time period, the club arranged the "sham contracts" as well as "relying on sham agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs".
The club continues to deny any wrongdoing.
News broke last week that City had been found guilty of breaking the majority of the 115 financial rules they were accused of breaching, but on Tuesday the Premier League published a redacted version of the commission's report.
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