Gérard Lopez targeted in Lille inquiry as LOSC freeze €10m-plus agent commissions | OneFootball

Lille have frozen more than €10 million in agent commissions amid a criminal inquiry into suspected abuse of corporate assets and unlawful agent activity, opened after a club complaint in October 2021. According to L'Équipe, president Olivier Létang is withholding payments linked to recent transfers.

Agents are claiming €6 million from Victor Osimhen’s move to Napoli and €900,000 tied to Jonathan David’s arrival. The claims relate to 2019-2020 deals the club refuses to settle.

Under Gérard Lopez, Lille used Lopez-controlled firms Victory Soccer Limited and Victory Sports Services, later Scoutly. Receipts to those companies were put at about €22.1 million. The club’s legal director repeatedly warned about risks and thin scouting output between 2017 and 2020.

Létang told magistrates the sums were exorbitant and some services almost non-existent, and an internal audit suggested scouting deals might have hidden illicit agent payments that coincided with transfers. Lille has appealed a €900,000 award to David’s agents in October 2023.

Several agents and a Portuguese scouting firm accuse Lille of using the inquiry to avoid payment, saying the club knew French intermediaries fronted for licensed foreign agents. Lopez’s lawyer calls the claims a vendetta, says Lopez has not been heard or charged, and denies he was beneficiary or decision-maker.

A separate probe concerns a €4 million July 2020 partnership with Mouscron, then owned by Lopez, after Lille rejected a second €2 million payment as unbalanced. Deloitte warned in June 2020 of penal risk if the deal harmed the club’s interests.

Source: L'Équipe