The management of the Professional Football League (LFP) is going through an area of turbulence. More than three months after the fiasco of the allocation of Ligue 1 television rights and a few days after the presentation, on October 30, of the Senate investigation report on Following the intervention of investment funds in French football, the LFP now finds itself in the middle of a legal chaos.
According to information from The teamconfirmed by the worldSearches were carried out at the Paris headquarters of the LFP, as well as at the offices of the Luxembourg fund CVC Capital Partners, and at the home of the president – re-elected in September – of the LFP, Vincent Labrune, in Saint-Rémy-de- Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône). They are carried out as part of a preliminary investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office ofr “embezzlement of public funds”, “active and passive corruption of public officials” and “illegal appropriation of interests”.
These investigations, entrusted in July to the Paris investigation section, arise from the complaint filed, in November 2023, by the AC!! association. The fight against corruption points to the creation, in 2022, of the League’s commercial subsidiary, LFP Media, within the framework of an agreement with CVC.
This financial agreement of 1.5 billion euros (in exchange for dividends of 13% of LFP Media’s annual profit) with CVC should have made it possible to rescue LFP, whose accounts were in the red. It gave rise to significant fees (37.5 million euros, or 2.5% of the total CVC endowment) paid to intermediaries, to city councils, but also to the leaders of the LFP.
“Incompatibility”
As pointed out by the rapporteur of the Senate information mission, Michel Savin (Les Républicains, Isère), the amount of the fees is ” superior ” to compensation paid to “most of the Ligue 1 clubs [33 millions d’euros] and the French Football Federation [FFF, 20 millions d’euros] ».
Specifically, the Lazard Frères bank received 12 million euros, as did the American bank Centerview – whose Paris branch is headed by Matthieu Pigasse (member of the supervisory board of the Le Monde group) – as well as “pay for success” (…)only if the operation is performed », as Mr Savin points out in his report. The two banks turned to the LFP following Labrune’s election in 2020. “to offer their help in fundraising.” As for the Darrois law firm, it provided legal assistance, paying 5 million euros, “depending on the diligence carried out.”
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