Cellino Hurts Leeds United Takeover Chances after Tax Evasion Ruling

March 18, 2014

Massimo Cellino may have scuppered his chances of taking over Leeds United after an Italian court ordered the Cagliari president to pay a hefty fine for tax evasion.

Cellino has been ordered to pay a fine of £502,000 for failing to pay duty on a yacht he imported from the United States.

The Italian entrepreneur’s defence lawyer, Giovanni Cocco, announced that Cellino, who was not in court, planned to appeal against the court’s ruling.

“This verdict is absolutely unjust and we will appeal,” he told the Guardian after the brief court session.

Cellino agreed a deal to buy a 75 per cent stake in Leeds from Gulf Finance House Capital at the start of last month.

But the decision today may have ruined Cellino’s chances with his takeover bid due to be considered by a Football League board meeting next month.

The Football League incorporates a ‘owners and directors’ test, which prevents anyone with an unspent conviction for dishonesty offences from being a director, a 30 per cent owner, or from exercising control over one of its clubs.