Exclusive: La Masia also affected by Barçagate social media scandal

Exclusive: La Masia also affected by Barçagate social media scandal

El Barça rescinde el contrato con I3 Ventures, vinculada a campaña de desprestigio de jugadores en redes sociales
Bartomeu anuncia que el Barça rescinde contrato con I3 Ventures, vinculada a campaña de desprestigio de jugadores en redes sociales / | EFE

The external audit into the scandal is expected to be completed soon

Since Cadena SER revealed that Barcelona had a contract with a company that was smearing people related to the club on social media, resulting in the rescision of the contract with said company and the temporary suspension of club executive Jaume Masferrer, it has been non-stop movement at the Catalan club. 

Following the revelations, Barça ordered an external audit into what had gone on from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC). 

From the off, it's been discovered that the project was led by Masferrer, who was in charge of the relationship with i3Ventures and the rest of the companies under the wing of the Uruguayan businessman Carlos Rafael Ibáñez Constantino involved in the social media scandal. The monthly reports were revised by the necessary people in the communication department and closed by Masferrer. In the process, neither the directors nor the other executives had knowledge of what was going on. 

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La MasIa

In November 2017, Masferrer ordered another study of social media for various accounts managed by the club, for example, @fcbarcelonab and @fcbmasia. Following the protocol, the communications manager for La Masia, Mario Ruiz, was in charge of following the reports and passing them on to Masferrer for his conclusions. No director or executive had knowledge of that until days before Cadena SER's report. 

What has come out in the audit is that some of the money paid to the companies came out of La Masia's budget. In two years, Tantra Soft, i3's partner, was paid 297,000 euros. 

The payments were spread in the following way: 198,000 euros in the 2018-19 season and 99,000 euros for the current season. The second amount was the first payment for the current campaign. The second payment was due after the contract was rescinded. 

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