Parramatta's promising season is effectively over with the club stripped of 12 competition points and fined $1 million as a result of the NRL's salary cap investigations.
NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg revealed the Eels have been issued a breach notice and the heavy sanctions will see the club sink straight to the bottom of the ladder.
"The preliminary findings suggest the operation of a deliberate, coordinated and sustained system of salary cap cheating by the club," Greenberg said.
"Based on the information that we currently have, we believe the system was conducted with the knowledge and support of the club's board and senior executive.
"In short, the preliminary findings point to a range of strategies since as early as 2013 to get around the salary cap and give the club an advantage over its competitors."
Parramatta won't be eligible to play for competition points until they are once again under the cap, meaning the club will need to begin shedding players immediately.
The sanction also includes a further $250,000 suspended fine pending governance changes.
"In monetary terms we estimate the club's made promises of remuneration that haven't been disclosed to the NRL of about $(Aus)3 million since 2013 on aggregate," Head of NRL Integrity Unit Nick Weeks said.
Greenberg also confirmed that five officials, including chairman Steve Sharp, chief executive John Boulous and head of football Daniel Anderson, face the sack.
"In the last seven years, this club has had 25 directors, six CEO's and four head coaches; they've breached the salary cap rules in five of the past six years," Greenberg said.
"The club is again over the salary cap for 2016. This has to stop."
As one of the NRL's most financially sound clubs, the fine won't hurt the Eels as much as the loss of competition points - all but ruling the team out of finals contention for 2016.
With 28 points considered the target for finals qualification, Parramatta will now need to win approximately 12 of their remaining 15 matches to still be a chance of securing a top eight finish.
"If Parramatta win every game under the salary cap, I'll be very happy but they have to comply with the salary cap like every one of the other 15 clubs." Greenberg said.
Parramatta are the fourth club in NRL history to suffer heavy consequences of salary cap rorting after Canterbury in 2006, the Warriors in 2006 and Melbourne in 2010.
The Eels will also be stripped of the Auckland Nines competition title they won in February.
They have five days to appeal the breach notice.