Barcelona signed Robert Lewandowski in the summer of 2022, coming from Bayern Munich, for 45 million euros, in addition to 5 million euros in additional incentives.
Lewandowski would have received 104 million euros from his 4-year contract with Barcelona, while 10% of it would go to his agent, Pini Zahavi.
According to the Spanish newspaper, Barcelona transferred one million euros from Lewandowski’s signing commission to an alleged fraudster who pretended to be Pini Zahavi, the player’s agent.
The report explained that the events occurred in the summer of 2022, specifically at the end of July, when several managers and senior executives at the club were contacted via email from an address bearing the name Pini Zahavi, and they were asked in the email to deposit part of the commission corresponding to Lewandowski’s signing in The Cyprus Bank of Cyprus, and in an account other than the actor’s account, where the email demanded one million euros and attached an account number in the name of the person, Michael Gerardos Hermanos Damon, who is described as a lawyer.
According to the investigation, this bank account was opened in the same month, July 2022, and was opened by the person who received the money, who received an income of one million euros from Barcelona.
Cypriot sources confirm that the bank’s compliance department blocked the transfer because it was considered “high risk” as no movement had previously occurred in that account, and it was not possible to prove a valid document justifying the payment.
The newspaper reported that a person claiming to be Pini Zahavi contacted the bank repeatedly, demanding to unlock the funds, but nothing happened, and according to the various sources consulted by the media that revealed the case, the person who impersonated Zahavi was sending emails threatening to report Barcelona to the Federation. European Football Association and ban his registration if the million euros are not paid.
According to an email that this investigation was able to access, the person claiming to be Zahavi wrote to the directors of the Bank of Cyprus to press for approval of the transfer. The email stated that “Shaitan is our intermediary in some football operations and that the fee for Lewandowski’s transfer to Barcelona goes back to To him,” and the bank did not accept the pressure and the account was closed in October 2022, while Barcelona confirmed that the money was recovered after direct intervention by Pini Zahavi, who confirmed that he had no relationship with the fraudulent person.
It is noteworthy that Lewandowski succeeded in leading Barcelona to win the Spanish League title in his first season with the team.
Source: RT
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