A recent development in the ongoing investigation into Juventus’ financial dealings has provided a boost to the defense of the club and its former executives. The investigating judge (GIP) in Rome, Elvira Tamburelli, has ruled that the acquisition of digital evidence included in the “Prisma” file was carried out improperly.
Calcio e Finanza report that the judge found that prosecutors have been irregularly holding onto seized digital materials for nearly three years. As a result, she has ordered the prosecutors to address this issue urgently, both in the current phase and in the preliminary hearing.
The timeline of events shows that the first acquisitions of digital evidence date back to November 2021. Forensic copies of various digital devices were completed by January 2022, with some additional devices processed in May 2022. However, despite repeated requests from the defense, prosecutors have not returned the seized materials, citing difficulties in searching for data and the need to recover deleted files.
The defense teams have made multiple attempts to recover the forensic copies, including after the closure of investigations in November 2022 and following the transfer of the case to Rome prosecutors. All these requests were denied.
The investigating judge emphasized that returning the forensic copies is in the interest of the accused, as the devices contain information not pertinent to the alleged crimes, including personal and private data. There are also potential risks associated with the dissemination of information related to Juventus’ business strategies unrelated to the charges.
Given the considerable time that has passed since the initial seizures in November 2021, the judge has granted the defense’s requests. She has ordered the prosecutors to return complete forensic copies of the seized devices to the accused, after extracting only the digital data relevant to the alleged crimes.
