Million transferred
Lewandowski transfer: Barca fell for a fraudster
Quite embarrassing: FC Barcelona fell for a scammer two years ago when it signed star striker Robert Lewandowski and transferred one million euros to an account in Cyprus.
Barca had signed the Polish goal scorer in the summer of 2022 for around 45 million euros plus Bonni. As the radio station SER Catalunya, among others, has now revealed, several managers at the Spanish club allegedly received emails from Lewandowski's advisor Pini Zahavi at the end of July 2022 asking them to transfer part of the transfer fee to an account in Cyprus.
The alleged Zahavi disclosed all bank details and referred to a lawyer named Michael Gerardus Hermanus Demon. Barcelona transferred the requested sum of one million - but was lucky that the bank blocked the payment. The bank was suspicious because the account had only been opened recently and had not shown any money movements until then.
Fraudster threatened the bank
The account holder then tried to put pressure on the bank and threatened to lodge a UEFA complaint. But the bank stood firm and closed the account a few weeks later.
When Barca inquired with advisor Zahavi, he made it clear that he did not know the lawyer. Neither the club nor the advisor pressed charges, which is why the police did not investigate, according to SER Catalunya.
Radio station has tracked down man
The radio station has tracked down Michael Gerardus Hermanus Demon, who is not registered as a lawyer in any European country, in the Netherlands. The 51-year-old claimed that his documents had been stolen and used to open an account in Cyprus.
The bank refuted this, stating that this was impossible as the authenticity of documents is strictly checked and that an account can only be opened after a face-to-face meeting or a video conference.
FC Barcelona have since confirmed that they were the victim of a fraud attempt, but did not want to disclose any details.
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