Barcelona are not flush for cash at the moment, and have not been since before the Covid-19 pandemic. And while Joan Laporta’s opposition accuse him of incompetence, there were more than a few blushes saved by banking security back in 2022.
SER Chain have revealed that during the transfer of Robert Lewandowski to the club from Bayern Munich, a fraudster nearly made off with €1m. The person in question passed themselves off as agent Pini Zahavi, who represents Lewandowski, and requested that the Blaugrana pay him €1m in commissions.
Breaking: Jonathan David dreams of joining Barcelona, and is willing to wait if necessary. The striker will be free to negotiate with any club from January given his contractual situation. @ffpolo, @RogerTorello pic.twitter.com/eBKaYeLn5s
— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 17, 2024
The Catalan giants obliged, depositing €1m in a Cypriot bank account. However after a few days, the Compliance department of the bank notified Barcelona of the unusual nature of the movement, with the account having never had any prior banking history – it was opened earlier in the month. They raised the issue with Zahavi, who clearly explained that it was not him. The bank were then able to intercept the transfer, and Barcelona got the money back into their account.
While no harm was ultimately committed, it does raise questions about Barcelona’s due diligence, and the ease with which agents are able to extract money from the Blaugrana. Without knowing the details, it is impossible to know the complexity of the fraud, but all the same, it certainly does not look project a good image for an administration already under fire for their financial management.
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