Leaked files have revealed secret payments by Roman Abramovich that may have breached football's financial fair play rules, raising fresh questions over how the former Chelsea owner funded the club's success. The transactions, uncovered by the Guardian and international partners, could lead to Premier League punishments including a points deduction.
The files show a series of payments worth tens of millions of pounds over a decade, routed through offshore vehicles belonging to Abramovich. Beneficiaries appear to include the agent of star player Eden Hazard, an associate of title-winning manager Antonio Conte, and Chelsea officials. Other payments were linked to the purchases of Willian and Samuel Eto'o.
The payments came to light through Cyprus Confidential, a cache of 3.6 million offshore records leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Chelsea's finances are already under Premier League investigation for the period 2012-2019 after the new ownership voluntarily reported incomplete financial information from Abramovich's tenure.
Documents show that on 18 July 2017, an Abramovich-owned company agreed to pay agent Federico Pastorello £10 million for a stake in a US-based business. That same day, Chelsea announced a new contract for manager Antonio Conte. Another payment of €7 million was made in 2013 to a Dubai company linked to Hazard's agent, John Bico-Penaque.
