Court chronicles and social chronicles have gone hand in hand in recent years in Italy with a case that affects one of the most powerful families in the country, the Agnelli. It seems, at the moment, difficult to resolve, since the positions are very bitter and justice continues its course.
On the one hand we find Margherita Agnelli,daughter of the remembered Giovanni Agnelli, known by the nickname de l’Avvocato. On January 20, 2003, a way of understanding business, family relationships, charisma and elegance died with him. He was survived by his mythical sister, Clara, now deceased, mother of Ira de Füstenberg.
In this newly released autumn, Italy is in suspense, but it is not new either, because, as we say, the litigation goes back a long way. The matter reaches the media and the courts when Margherita denounces her three children, John, Lapo and Ginevra, for having committed some alleged irregularities related to the inheritance of his grandmother, Marella Caracciolowho died in 2019.
The prosecution launched an investigation and searched the offices of John Elkann, married to Lavinia Borromeo, sister of Beatrice Borromeo, who by her marriage to Pierre Casiraghi is the daughter-in-law of Carolina of Monaco. The investigations have resulted in precautionarily seized 75 million euros and the three brothers have been accused of alleged tax fraud and aggravated fraud against the State.
The case is complicated by the tax residence of the Elkann grandmother, because although she claimed to reside in Switzerland to avoid paying taxes such as inheritance taxes in Italy, the prosecution concludes in a report that she had been living regularly in Turin since 2010. . Therefore the distribution of the inheritance, It should be done in accordance with Italian law and not Swiss law, as has been done.
The Agnelli family closes ranks in the face of the great battle in court
The Elkanns deny the accusations and assure that their grandmother’s wish was to reside in Switzerland since the seventies and she would have done so, always according to her story. The prosecutor’s investigation, which is being very thorough, extends not only to the members of the Agnelli saga but also to Gianluca Ferrero, family accountant and president of Juventus, a team that is owned by the clan, and the Swiss notary Urs Robert von Grünigen.
According to ‘Il Corriere della Sera’, one of the newspapers not controlled by the family, when the grandmother of the Elkann brothers published his book ‘Ho coltivato il mio giardino’, the Agnelli’s lawyers carefully reviewed the draft and it was requested that Marella’s stay in Switzerland be recorded to avoid situations like those that are currently happening. And this would be one of the prosecution’s main assets to demonstrate the thesis that in reality, what was known as one of Truman Capote’s swans spent most of her time on Italian soil.
John and Ginevra Elkann, in a retrospective image. /
This all goes back to death of the former president of Fiat in 2003. The inheritance was so substantial that there were arduous negotiations with results that are now intended to be revoked. Margheritta Agnelli gave up the then declining family shares in exchange for 1.3 billion euros. The shares passed into the hands of his son, John Elkann, as did most of the properties. The mother challenged this agreement in 2021 because she considers that the amount she received does not adjust to the current value of those shares that were not very buoyant at the time. If he proves that his mother lived in Italy perhaps he could get the succession agreement revoked: it would be valid in Switzerland, but not in Italy.
Margherita Agnelli also intends that the distribution of the inheritance also include four of the five children she had in her second marriage, with the Russian count Sergio de Pahlen, who live away from public life. Indeed, since she married Serge Gräfin von der Pahlen in 1985, her distance from the children of her first marriage to the novelist Alain Elkann, already divorced from his second wifeRosy Greco, has been getting older. Now the swords are high. The differences seem irreconcilable.
Gianni Agnelli’s other grandchildren and his grandmother’s inheritance
Maria, Pierre, Sophia, Anna and Tatiana Gräfin von der Pahlen, the other five children of Margherita Agnelli, lived very integrated into the Agnelli clan. Not in vain, his father was director of Fiat in Brazil and later vice president of the automobile brand in Russia. When Gianni Agnelli died, his daughter wanted Sergio de Pahlen to take charge of the family empire, but This role is filled by John Elkann, who fired his stepfather. A full-fledged game of thrones.
John Elkann broke the maxim that dirty linen is washed at home by making some incendiary statements in ‘Il Corriere della Sera’ in which he stated that both he and his brother Lapo had been subjected to physical and mental abuse on his mother’s side. A situation that, according to their words, occurred already in childhood, and for that reason they had greater protection from their grandparents.
Lapo Elkann, the most controversial member of the family saga. /
The now almighty john elkannHe also sent a clear message to the next generations of the saga: «After all, it is with this generation that our country stakes its ambitions for the future. We are a family very united by the love and shared passion for Ferrari and Juventus. Looking at my children, grandchildren and friends I see young people eager to learn and this gives me confidence in the future.
In those statements, John put the accusing finger on his mother: «In 2004, in the middle of the Fiat crisis, my entire family came together to carry out my grandfather’s will. The only one who wanted to stay out was my mother,” he said. «My brother, my sister and I have complete confidence in the Italian judiciary. It is a situation that has lasted for twenty years and that I live with great pain,” he said.