Italian prosecutors on Friday ordered the seizure of nearly 75 million euros from Ferrari and Stellantis chairman John Elkann and four others as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud. The storied dynasty that gave rise to the Fiat car empire, from which Stellantis emerged following the 2021 merger of Peugeot-Citroen and Fiat-Chrysler, is riven by a bitter dispute over family inheritance.
Turin’s financial police said the order for “preventive seizure of approximately 74.8 million euros ($83.5 million)” was addressed to John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann, as well as their accountant and a Swiss notary. The dispute concerns the estate of Gianni Agnelli, the former Fiat boss who died in 2003, and pits his daughter Margherita, who inherited 1.2 billion euros, against three of his eight children: John, Lapo and Ginevra.
In Switzerland instead of Italy
Prosecutors classified the alleged crimes as tax and property fraud. In the seizure order, which AFP was able to see, they say they discovered an agreement to falsely claim that Agnelli’s widow, Marella Caracciolo, was living in Switzerland while she was living in Italy. Lawyers for Elkann’s brother and sister said she “has been residing in Switzerland since the early 1970s.”
The seizure order also “does not meet legal requirements… because, among other things, there was never a risk of dispersion of the suspects’ assets,” they said in a statement.
Source: BFM TV
