ROME – The Finance Police executed an order on Wednesday to seize the assets of Sampdoria chairman Massimo Ferrero in an investigation into financial misconduct, Il Fatto Quotidiano reports.

 According to police sources, 2.6 million euros in financial resources and other assets have been taken from Ferrero as a probe into potential embezzlement, fraud, laundering and false invoices is carried out by Italian authorities. The order was given by the investigating magistrate in the Court of Rome, whose investigation also involves five other individuals. 200,000 euros of funds have also been seized from Sampdoria football club itself.

 The current assumption from Rome’s prosecutor, Il Fatto reports, is that Ferrero, a film producer and actor alongside his role as chairman of the Serie A side, misappropriated up to 1.2 million euros of the funds earned by the club’s sale of Pedro Obiang to West Ham in 2015. It is alleged that the chairman used the money, obtained through invoices for non-existent transactions, to clear debts of other companies managed by Ferrero and to pay for the production of a film.

 The investigations have also revealed that fake labour disputes between five different parties were arranged, in order to agree settlements totalling 500,000 euros, which was used to purchase a high-value building in Florence.