John Valovic-Galtier, the adopted son of former PSG coach Christophe Galtier, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros for organized gang fraud, illegal exercise of the profession of sports agent and bleaching. This is more than the prosecution’s requisitions (18 months suspended sentence and 20,000 euros fine).
He had appeared alongside seven other players in French football, including the president of Toulouse (L1) Damien Comolli, who was fined 30,000 euros for an irregular transfer contract.
The eight defendants are convicted of having circumvented, “with a certain bad faith” notes the court, the law governing the activity of sports agent. The disputed transfer contracts submitted for examination by the judges showed that the negotiations between the interested parties had been conducted by professionals who did not hold a sports agent card. David Venditelli, manager of the Lyon company Score Agencies, was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 200,000 euros and one of the employees, sports advisor, Jérémie Sutter, was sentenced to one year in prison and 100,000 euros in fine. ‘fine.
An illegal “nominee” model
This company as well as that created by John Valovic-Galtier, Player Agency, were based, according to the court, on the same irregular model: on the one hand an advisor who does not hold a professional card carries out the procedures leading to the conclusion of a transfer contract thanks to his network or his professional experience, on the other hand, official player agents but “inactive” in the negotiations and only intervening at the signing of the transfer.
This model was notably implemented in the transfers of Christophe Galtier and Jordan Galtier, brother of John Valovic-Galtier. This scheme is illegal in the eyes of the court for which “prospecting, making contact, negotiations right up to the contract are the monopoly of licensed agents”.
Described by the prosecutor as “front agents” and “nominees”, three official agents were sentenced: Alexandre Bonnefond to one year in prison suspended and 50,000 euros, Tristan Sauzon to six months suspended and 5000 euros. fine and David Wantier to three months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 5,000 euros. The first two are also banned from professional practice, for five years and one year respectively. Emmanuel Desplats, general manager of Dijon (National), was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros.
Civil parties, the League (LFP) and the French Federation (FFF) are allocated a symbolic euro in compensation for their moral damage, “these offenses having the effect of betraying the trust that these regulatory bodies place in sports agents”. According to information from L’Equipe, Valovic-Galtier’s defense intends to appeal the decision.
