When Parma's financial problems seemed to be coming to an end, a new setback for the team arised today after the Italian police revealed Giampietro Manenti, the team's new owner, will be placed under their custody for his alleged participation in a frustrated credit card fraud, which would have stolen 4.5 million euros from different accounts.
Manenti is being accused of taking part in a credit card scam, in which computer hackers used stolen or cloned credit cards to deviate 4.5 million euros, which Manenti would have masked as purchases of electronic devices and sponsorship deals for the team.
Manenti, during one of Parma's games this season.
The prosecutor revealed that the plot was discovered before the transfers were made to Parma's accounts, taking into custody 22 people besides Manenti that were being investigated for quite some time.
Manenti took over the club's presidency last month, agreeing to pay the team's debt of 100 million euros, with the players not collecting a paycheck in months, and the team already declared bankrupt.
Parma's captain Alessandro Lucarelli spoke on behalf of his team-mates, referring to this new setback as something "repulsive".
"I just hope this is sorted out quickly. This season has been really hard to undertake, and frankly we've had enough of this. Frankly, we can't take it anymore," Lucarelli said.
