Gérard Lopez appeared this Wednesday morning at the Lille criminal court. The former president of Losc (2017-2020) was found guilty of illegal complicity in the profession of sports agent, according to information from L'Equipe.
The ax has fallen. Present at the Lille criminal court this Wednesday morning, Gérard Lopez is fixed. According to information from The Teamthe Spanish-Luxembourg businessman was sentenced to 10 months' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. The former president of Losc (2017-2020) is accused of having been complicit in the illegal exercise of the profession of sports agent without a valid license and of non-declaration of the hiring of a collaborator.
This famous collaborator is also well-known. This is Karim Saada, a former scout for the northern club, who was employed in October 2017… but only declared in March 2018, almost six months later. He was also sentenced to 10 months' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 euros for “illegal exercise of the profession of sports agent without a valid license”.
But that's not all for Karim Saada, who is also banned from working as a sports agent. In question, the dubious transfer attempt. That of Arton Zekaj, where “he took care of the administrative formalities with the club”, and had tried to attract him to the training center, in exchange for remuneration and in collaboration with the official sports agent”, reveals the French daily newspaper.
Lopez has ten days to appeal
This Wednesday, the French Football Federation and Losc were present at the Lille judicial court, through their lawyer, as civil parties. If the FFF took “note of this new application of the criminal law on sports agents”, Gérard Lopez's lawyer was “satisfied with the agreement reached with the Lille prosecutor definitively putting an end to the procedure carried out against his client”, indicate the parties in comments reported by L'Equipe.
The prosecutor also “proposed to the judge that this conviction not be entered in bulletin no. 2 of the criminal record, which would allow Gérard Lopez to continue his activities without any restriction, in France and abroad.” Good news for the current president of the Girondins de Bordeaux, who has ten days to appeal.
“We are satisfied today with the agreement reached with the Lille prosecutor definitively putting an end to the procedure carried out against Mr. Gérard Lopez, and leading to a sentence with limited consequences. The fact that only this residual procedure relating to a temporary situation, despite several years of investigation with numerous ramifications – in which Mr. Lopez diligently participated – demonstrates the solidity of his case. The only facts ultimately prosecuted only concern a period from October 2017 to March 2018. during which an employee's contract had not yet been correctly established”, reacted Me Pierre de Combles de Nayves, lawyer for Gérard Lopez.
And added: “They therefore relate to a temporary situation which had been ended as soon as possible. The prosecutor also proposed to the judge that this conviction should not be entered in bulletin no. 2 of the criminal record, thus authorizing Mr. Lopez to continue his activities without any restriction, in France and abroad If the file contained formal and substantive weaknesses which would have allowed us to question the accusation on this very last aspect of the procedure. carried out against him, Mr. Lopez finally proposed this procedure of preliminary appearance of guilt to the prosecutor in order to put an end, today and with limited legal consequences, to a procedure which has lasted too long.”
