Catalan police have concluded that ex-FC Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu diverted money away from the club for personal purposes according to popular radio program Què T'hi Jugues.

At around midday in Catalonia, the program reported that local police, known as the Mossos, have said that Bartomeu used a contract Barca had with Amalgama Marketing for payments that were unrelated to the club.

According to the Mossos, Amalgama produced an invoice of €152,000 ($170,000) in relation to a contract with Barca. Of this amount, 86% was diverted to "external people" such as journalists or businessmen on Bartomeu's orders, with the remaining 14% kept by Amalgama.

Looking through Barca's archives, the Mossos reportedly found a folder entitled "Digital Services Contracts" with all the companies belonging to the Nicestream group (including I3Ventures) and also Amalgama Marketing.

In early 2020, I3Ventures came to the forefront when reports broke claiming that Bartomeu and Barca had allegedly paid the company to organize social media campaigns against key Barca figures including Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique who were critical of Bartomeu's management.

Bartomeu later admitted that I3 Ventures had been hired to improve the club's image on social media but not to damage the reputation of any individuals.

"Barça did not contract services to damage the reputation of anybody and we will defend ourselves against those who are attacking us," Bartomeu said.

The scandal became known as "Barcagate" in local media, with the club paying €980,000 for the I3 Ventures campaign.

A PWC briefing commissioned by Barca found that the fee had been "over market value" and concluded that a more reasonable sum would have fallen between €120,000 and €150,000.

Back in the present, Què T'hi Jugues explain that several messages were found of the Mundo Deportivo and El Chiringuito collaborator Marcal Lorente allegedly acknowledging that he worked as Bartomeu's head of digital strategy in return for working at Barca.

In one message, Lorente allegedly reminded its recipient that he has defended the Bartomeu project with his partiality and involvement making it "now very difficult to return to the position of objective journalist".

In February 2020, Lorente clashed with then-Barca star Gerard Pique on Twitter when the now retired defender called him a "puppet".

As of yet, neither Lorente nor Bartomeu have responded to Què T'hi Jugues' report and the allegations.

There has been no official statement thus far from the club either, which Bartomeu left in October 2020 when resigning.

In a March 2021 election, current president Joan Laporta took over and found a club that was "technically bankrupt" according to former CEO Ferran Reverter.