The Elkann Siblings and the Agnelli Inheritance Fraud Investigation

It is "plausible" that the siblings John, Lapo, and Ginevra Elkann were aware of the "fraud" committed around the alleged evasion of inheritance tax upon the death of their grandmother, Marella Caracciolo. This is stated by the Review Court of Turin in the reasons for the order in which the seizures ordered by the prosecution were confirmed as part of the investigation revolving around Gianni Agnelli's inheritance. The passage, in particular, refers to the hypothesis of fraud against the State, which had been contested by the defenses. According to investigators, the tax should have been paid in Italy because Marella Caracciolo's residence in Switzerland was fictitious. "The fraud," the judges write, "was plausibly an act of deceit on the part of all three Elkann siblings, who were seen to have been in excellent relations with their grandmother and aware of her health issues and habits that made her stay in Italy predominant. Facing the death of their relative, it is plausible that they endorsed, with painful willing consent, the strategies already suggested and realized with the active consultancy of Gianluca Ferrero (family accountant, also under investigation)". The court hypothesizes that John had a more active role and that Lapo and Ginevra "were limited to a reinforcing moral complicity".