Leicester were Tuesday fined nearly £310,000 ($405,000) but avoided a points deduction after a Premiership Rugby investigation found the club had failed to comply with salary cap regulations.

The probe, which looked at compliance in four seasons from 2016/17 to 2019/20, found that Leicester had failed to disclose payments made to players’ image rights companies, which should have been declared as salary.

Only Saracens, who were relegated two seasons ago for repeated salary cap breaches, have been fined more.

Premiership Rugby used strengthened powers introduced following a review of the salary cap regulations in 2020 that was conducted following the Saracens case.

“The review of salary cap regulations provided stronger powers to monitor spending and investigate possible breaches of the cap in past seasons,” said Premiership salary cap director Andrew Rogers.

“Leicester Tigers have cooperated with my investigation and accepted the findings, which allows us to apply the sanctions detailed in the regulations.

“While we are satisfied that the arrangements which resulted in the overspend have been brought to an end, we will continue to assess all spending as part of our ongoing monitoring process at every club.”

Leicester chief executive Andrea Pinchen said the club, 12 points clear of Saracens at the top of the Premiership, had cooperated with Premiership Rugby throughout the investigation.

“We accept the decision and the acknowledgement that there was no over-run in the most recent season of the review (2020/21),” she said.

“We are thankful this matter has been brought to a conclusion and pleased that we can now focus all of our energy and efforts on the future of the club.”