SSC Napoli and SSC Bari are under suspicion of financial fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy. The reason is a transfer that took place in 2023. The public prosecutor’s office in Bari is now investigating the presidents of both clubs.
The case centers on Elia Caprile. In the summer of 2023, the goalkeeper transferred from Bari to Napoli for 2.2 million euros. Previously, the Italian second-division relegated club had signed the keeper from Leeds United. During the transfer to Napoli, the Apulian club subsequently waived a sell-on clause. This brought the Italian financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, into the picture.
According to information from *Gazzetta dello Sport*, a financial analysis of SSC Bari’s financial statements is said to have been the starting point for the investigation. According to the report, the Apulian club is heavily in debt, a situation that is said to have been exacerbated by further transactions. One of these was Caprile’s transfer, in which investigators questioned the player’s market value, Bari’s decision to waive a resale clause, and the lack of documentation surrounding the move.
Bari’s president is the son of Napoli club boss De Laurentiis
The club from southeastern Italy could have certainly used the money. SSC Napoli ended up profiting, loaning the now 24-year-old Caprile to Empoli and Cagliari—before selling him permanently to Sardinia last summer for 8.2 million, where he remains under contract today. Caprile’s “economic potential,” writes *La Gazzetta dello Sport*, was “effectively transferred to Napoli.” According to investigators, forgoing future transfer proceeds has caused financial harm to Bari.
A connection between the two clubs already exists through their respective leadership. Aurelio De Laurentiis has been president of SSC Napoli since 2004. His eldest son, Luigi, has been club president in Bari since 2018. As early as November 2025, Aurelio De Laurentiis was accused of accounting fraud in connection with the transfers of Kostas Manolas and Victor Osimhen to SSC. The 77-year-old is scheduled to appear in court on December 2. In the Capriles case, both are now under investigation. The charges include embezzlement, corporate crimes, and fraudulent transactions. According to consistent reports in the Italian media, however, searches are also said to have been carried out by the Guardia di Finanza.
This is how SSC Napoli is responding
In a statement released Wednesday morning, SSC Napoli vehemently denied the allegations. Aurelio and Luigi De Laurentiis reportedly took note of them with “dismay.” The investigators’ allegations reportedly pertain to the “internal transfer” of Caprile, “whose value was quantified prior to the completion of the transfer by means of a sworn appraisal by an independent third party.” This individual is described as a “highly respected expert” who is “highly accredited in the soccer industry” and has “no connections whatsoever” to the De Laurentiis family.
What is curious, if anything, is that Napoli commented on SSC Bari’s financial situation in its statement. Both clubs released nearly identical statements. The request for the Apulian club’s judicial liquidation is simply “baffling.” “The club is an organization that strictly meets its financial obligations, and its losses—which are normal in the soccer industry—are systematically covered by the owners out of their own pockets,” the statement continues.
Clubs demand “utmost seriousness” from authorities
The investigators’ report covers the period between 2019 and 2025. According to L’Immendiato, Bari is projected to have accumulated negative equity of 6.4 million euros, an annual loss of 5.9 million euros, and total debt of 21 million euros by the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
As of June 30 of this year, the team that finished 17th in the most recent Serie B season would have had to submit a recapitalization plan. Like SSC Napoli, SSC Bari is also owned by the film production and distribution company Filmauro, which Aurelio De Laurentiis founded in 1975. However, according to the public prosecutor’s office, financial support from the company would not be sufficient to avert insolvency.
Meanwhile, both clubs are hoping for a swift dismissal of the proceedings, with a call for “the utmost seriousness” and “careful compliance with laws and accounting regulations” on the part of the relevant authorities.