Chelsea FC were fined £10.75 million and handed a suspended transfer ban by the Premier League over undisclosed payments made during Roman Abramovich’s ownership, in a case that drew renewed attention to offshore money flows and hidden financial arrangements in football, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported.

The league found that between 2011 and 2018 undisclosed payments by third parties associated with Chelsea were made to players, unregistered agents and other parties, and that those payments should have been treated as having been made by the club. The report said the payments were not disclosed to football authorities at the time and included transactions tied to player transfers and intermediaries.

The penalties stemmed from secret payments uncovered by the news organization’s Cyprus Confidential investigation, conducted with Paper Trail Media and partners including The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian. 

Chelsea had been accused of making undisclosed payments to secure the transfers of players, including Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto’o. The club’s current owners, BlueCo, said they uncovered financial discrepancies during the 2022 takeover involving suspicious payments to offshore companies and to players’ representatives and family members, according to the report.

As part of the penalty, the Premier League also imposed an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban, while the suspended ban on signing first-team players will hang over the club for two years and be activated if further breaches occur, ICIJ reported 

A Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Abramovich is currently the subject of a criminal probe into suspected money laundering and corruption in Jersey. 

Read more at ICIJ