Chelsea FC is undergoing an investigation by the Premier League for potential financial breaches under the ownership of Roman Abramovich. The Chief Executive of the Premier League Richard Masters informed Britain’s Times newspaper about the same on August 9, Wednesday.
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After owning the club for more than 20 years, Abramovich sold it last year in May for $5.2 billion to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. Abramovich was forced to make this move due to the sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian assets were frozen by the British government, and Chelsea's new owners reported a number of transactions while it was under Abramovich's ownership.
According to Masters, “We have been pretty open about the historic issues with regard to Chelsea because they self-reported to the Premier League and to the FA so it is obvious we are looking into that.” The Premier League CEO added, “If the Premier League believes a club has breached the financial regulations and there is a case to answer, that case will be put to the club.”
As per the British newspaper, the enquiry consists of multi-million payments to offshore entities. Reportedly, the payments were made with connections to football intermediaries. Masters added, “We want due process to be served in as efficient a way as possible, as quickly as possible.”
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He concluded, “It is not always easy to do these things quickly but we want the right answer, positive or negative, whether clubs are found guilty of breaching rules or not.” Notably, the London-based club was imposed a hefty fine of USD 10.98 million by the UEFA in July 2023. It was due to their submission of incomplete financial transactions that the club made between 2012 to 2019.
