by independent third parties and UEFA.
Even if one accepts the hacked emails selectively released on their face, and that City are not allowed a defense in explaining context for those emails, and that it is OK that the ajudicatory body leaks information and findings to the press prior to judgement, none of that matters. UEFA auditors certified Etihad as an unrelated party and the sponsorship fees paid as fair market value, so how they are funded through interlocking companies wouldn't be relevant.
Worse though, this process and associated smear campaigns have been corrupt from the outset without due process or fairness. If CAS doesn't exonerate City, they will rightly take this outside the sports system to the Swiss courts.
For a counterexample, see the FA's dismissal of Liverpool hacking City scouting computers or their evaluation and treatment under FFP when they failed several years ago.
Regardless, I would be surprised if that is a permissible basis to avoid a settlement agreement that specifically addressed the issue of whether City inflated the value of its sponsorships from purportedly related entities in the relevant time period—a settlement UEFA has already formally acknowledged was complied with and closed. Moreover, FFP’s limitations provisions appear to prohibit punishment for alleged breaches from more than 5 years ago—regardless of whatever “new evidence” is claimed to have been found.
Of course, we don’t have access to UEFA’s opinion, so we don’t have any way to know the strength of its legal analysis.
In any event, if you are a lawyer or are at all interested in an intellectually honest look at the situation, I recommend the following links for your reading pleasure:
https://ninetythreetwenty.com/blog/seeing-the-wood-for-the-ffps-manchester-city-uefa-go-to-war/
https://ninetythreetwenty.com/blog/seeing-the-wood-for-the-ffps-part-deux-the-double-city-do-not-want/
For a good piece about how FFP itself is a sham, I recommend:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8013475/amp/The-game-framed-UEFA-Europes-privileged-elite-BENT.html?__twitter_impression=true