The Guardia di Finanza carried out a search at the headquarters of Brescia and against 25 individuals (11 natural persons and 14 legal persons), investigated for various reasons for money laundering and tax crimes related to the marketing of non-existent credits.
Among those under investigation are Massimo Cellino, Brescia Calcio itself and accountant Marco Gamba, the professional who had assisted Brescia Calcio in the acquisition of tax credits - non-existent results - used to pay contributions for February and April. An operation that cost Brescia an eight-point penalty and relegation to Serie C.
" Brescia Calcio and Massimo Cellino are not involved in the organization aimed at marketing tax credits and related money laundering activities ," Giorgio Altieri, lawyer of the former president of Cagliari and the Lombard club, said. "It should be noted that Brescia Calcio, on May 20, 2025, immediately filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office of Brescia following notification to the aforementioned club of the draft deed by the Revenue Agency, which already contained the dispute of use by the club in compensation of non-existent credits, a dispute that is the only one still in existence and to the detriment of president Massimo Cellino."
The lawyer explains how " the president Massimo Cellino and the Brescia Calcio company were completely unaware and, indeed, in absolute good faith with respect to said compensations, which were also paid in full to the transferor only after the release of the payment receipts via the Revenue Agency systems". The company, today, "provided maximum collaboration to the Judicial Authority for the routine checks", continues Altieri. Brescia and Cellino "intend to reconfirm that they consider themselves injured parties with respect to the facts of the ongoing investigation as they trust will be recognized at the end of the most in-depth checks by the investigators, which they hope will be as rapid as possible".
The issue concerns the purchase of tax credits used to pay contributions for February and April. The investigation by the Guardia di Finanza would have allowed them to reveal the existence of a complex fraudulent scheme that would have allowed several entrepreneurs to unduly benefit from non-existent VAT credits. "In particular - the investigators write - the aforementioned suspects, using companies that were in default of tax, without operational headquarters and represented by individuals burdened by numerous police records for tax crimes, would have generated fictitious tax credits for an amount quantified, at present, at over four million euros . These credits would have been subsequently transferred, through a further "vehicle" company to several legal entities, including Brescia Calcio SpA, in order to allow a reduction in the tax and contribution burden".
Following the investigation, the Alfieri company with declared headquarters in Milan in via Montenapoleone, would have been found to lack the necessary authorizations for the exercise of the specific financial activity as well as lacking an effective and suitable business structure . In this context, the involvement of a firm of professionals operating mainly in the Brescia area would also have emerged.
(Online Union)