Antonio Pulvirenti, a controversial Sicilian businessman who owns Catania football club, was placed under house arrest Friday and charged with bankruptcy fraud at Wind Jet, an airline that went bust in 2012.
The 53-year-old, who was Wind Jet's chairman, is suspected of having massaged the company's accounts to hide its losses. As part of the same operation, Italy's tax police also issued a house arrest warrant for the carrier's former chief executive, Stefano Rantuccio.
It is not Pulvirenti's first brush with police: in June, he was placed under house arrest for match-fixing. He was freed on bail a year later, and is awaiting trial, while Catania were demoted from the second to the third division and deducted 12 points.
Catania played in the top Serie A division for eight seasons, until 2013-14, and counted current top football managers Sinisa Mihajlovic and Vincenzo Montella among their coaches. They sit 12th in the third-level Lega Pro.
