Banking fraud and false accounting. These are the onesand accusations made against the Turin financier Massimo Segre, protagonist of a new hot start to the summer, after almost a year ago in these times he ended up in the news for the so-called scandal of VIP horns. Now, his company is in the crosshairs Direct Simwhich ended up in the sights of Bank of Italy.
The new act, in an investigation that has been active for some time, is an extension of the investigation deadlines arrived by the deputy prosecutor Mario Bendoni. This was after an inspection by Bank of Italy revealed irregularities in the activities of Directa Sim, a securities brokerage company. Initially, it was limited to a fine of 30 thousand euros, but then in recent months the Financial Police has returned to the offices in via Bruno Buozzi in Turin.
What is the complaint? The one of act as a real bank (hence the accusation of illegality) rather than simple intermediation. It must be said that by their very nature SIMs are halfway between two realities and, in Turin’s economic circles, it was no mystery that Directa was very active in credit mediation. In practice, the Prosecutor’s Office now says, Directa provided credit to troubled banks by acquiring it from healthy institutions. Between these, Banco Azzoaglio, the Florentine Bank, the Bank of the Maritime Alps. But also Credito Fondiario, Palladio Holding, the MPS Foundation and Fides spa: they opened an online trading account, paying liquidity, but without necessarily there being any significant operations. The liquidity thus available, however, was passed on to institutions in difficulty.
A complex scheme, where there were also “signallers” on commission, with sums that were then paid to two companies headed by Giancarlo Marino, former co-CEO of Directa, resigned for “health reasons”. Among the beneficiary banks, a few years ago, was also Popolare di Bari, which was later saved from bankruptcy with a robust injection of public money. Directa’s practices, which as they do by the company also reiterating the “correctness of the actions” and “trust in the judiciary” were interrupted with Marino’s exit in practice – have thus ended up in the sights of Consob and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Directa Sim was founded in 1995, boasts an endowment of approximately 80 thousand accounts opened with assets worth 4.7 billion euros (of which 1.2 in a single year). It closed the 2023 financial statements with a consolidated gross profit of €11.9 million net (+59.7% on 2022) and a net profit of 8.2 million (+46.4% compared to 2022). Net commissions amounted to a total of 13.7 million euros, a slight decrease (-2.1%). The interest margin amounted to 15.7 million euros, a significant increase (+63.5%). The Company’s net assets reached 37.6 million euros, (+25.7%) taking into account that they were paid dividends of 2.640 million euros.
At the beginning of this year, Massimo Segre had already ended up in trouble for tax evasion as managing director of Savio Thesan Spa, a company specializing in windows and doors in the Val di Susa. The trial concerns the failure to pay VAT and withholding taxes for just over 3.5 million euros. A practice that Segre dumped on the previous CEO, claiming to have taken his place to try to recover the two million euros given by Directa in support of the company.
Last year, Savio was saved thanks to the acquisition of a branch of the company by the company Hope Srl through insolvency proceedings. An operation that had also benefited from support from FinPiemonte (for just over 2 million, basically the same sum that Segre said he wanted to recover), the finance company controlled by the Region. Hope Srl was established 80% by Cristina Seymandi (at the time known for her activity as a communicator close to the environment of the 5 Star Movement), girlfriend of Massimo Segreand for 20% by Vittorio Moscatelli, managing director of Ipi real estate owned by the Segre family (who also governed the sale of the former Maserati factory in Grugliasco, with the idea of placing an online advertisement which greatly annoyed Stellantis).
So, save the jobs in Chiusa San Michele, move forward with the new management which sees Seymandi in the role of CEO. And certainly one could ask oneself how much, in the “punctual investigation by experts”attention was paid to a complete lack of experience in the role, especially when in the crises of much smaller companies the role changes from the entrepreneur in trouble to a relative or to his wife at least bring the attention of the Financial Police.
In any case, we arrive at the party on July 28, 2023: Cristina Seymandi’s birthday, party in the villa on the Segre hill, the imminent wedding. But the normally reserved Massimo Segre is pissed off and in a speech from the DJ’s console he begins to talk about infidelity, about the girlfriend’s “intellectual and sexual understanding” with “your lawyer”, ruins everything and says to “give her back her freedom”. All in a video that goes viral and causes the VIP cuckolding scandal to explode. And, of course, Cristina Seymandi shortly thereafter also lost his role as director of Savio (now irrelevant for the purpose of the rescue operation).
