Leeds United co-owner cleared of wrongdoing in yacht case

Leeds United co-owner Massimo Cellino is what some will call person with marked criminal tendencies, whilst others will dilute his ills by saying he is a ‘colourful character’. Whichever view you adhere to on the Italian, there’s no doubting he courts controversy.

From the way he seems to chew his way through the gristle of managers, spitting them out along the way, to the fact he’s seen the inside of a courtroom more times than Rumpole of the Bailey, there’s definitely controversy about Massimo Cellino.

He’s been convicted of evading import tax on a luxury car and subsequently banned by the Football League, something rescinded by a change in Italian law. He was accused of being involved in payments to an unlicensed individual, something he is awaiting an impending FA ban for. He’s even involved in a case going through the Italian court system over the building of the IS Arenas, in which heavy charges of fraud and embezzlement sit.

However, one ‘crime’ that the Teflon Don seems to have wriggled out of is the one concerning his luxury yacht Lucky 23.

Lucky 23 was a Massimo Cellino company, a Massimo Cellino company that was created to purchase the eponymous yacht. Over 18 months ago Italian publication cagliaripad.net published details of the case against Cellino saying that: “We discovered that the company Lucky 23 was created a month before purchasing [the]homonymous (namesake) boat and that boat was among the only assets of $600,000.”

Cellino was accused of ‘smuggling’ the yacht into Italy from the United States due to the fact that he hadn’t paid the necessary import duty or IVA tax. The alleged ‘importation’ of the Lucky 23 involved alleged non-payment of VAT to the tune of €84,122 with this forming the basis of the charge raised against Massimo Cellino.

That seems all immaterial now, with the news piece that the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Hay has tweeted (above) indicating that Cellino has been cleared of wrongdoing. This is something that he clarifies in a follow-up tweet.

Whilst he may have received a leg-up on this one from the changing of Italian law, he cannot rely on such help when it comes to his appeal against the FA ban in the Ross McCormack transfer case.

Previous Article
Bristol Rovers

Stoke City youngster loaned to Pirates

Next Article
Bristol City

Robins youngster attracting lots of attention

Related Posts