And to think that on TV, besieged by enraged customers, had branded them as “stupid”, saying that “there is someone who complains because the warning triangle may be missing from the cars, but this is stupid…”. Instead, for him, within a few hours events came to a head and he found himself catapulted from Striscia la Notizia to the capital’s prison, where he was taking a few days of “Roman holiday”. The alleged “smart” seller of cars “paid for and never delivered” was arrested a few hours after the report was broadcast of the satirical news program which on Thursday 11 April, with correspondent Moreno Morello, had given voice to the protests of customers enraged at “having been cheated”.
Cars not his
According to one of the charges against him (the other, the most serious, is self-laundering), Mauro Gianmoena “was selling cars that weren’t his”: the mobile phone of the 45-year-old, resident and operating in Peschiera del Garda, it rang the next day, Friday the 12th. The financial people were looking for him: «Where is he? There is a document to be served on you…”. It was the arrest order signed on Thursday 11 April (the day of the episode of Striscia) by the investigating judge Marzio Bruno Guidorizzi of the Court of Verona upon request (dated 11 March) of the Scala prosecutor Beatrice Zanotti: «I’m on holiday in the capital» replied Gianmoena .
The defence
“Roman holidays” abruptly interrupted, therefore, to be taken directly to prison Friday afternoon, a few hours after he ended up on TV in Striscia’s denunciation report. “Two years without getting either the car we paid for in full, or even the return of our money”: the same misfortune complained of by at least 30 scammers, suspicions on which the alleged “smart” seller has not yet given answers to the investigating judge. From the prison in Rome where he is, in fact, Gianmoena, during the electronic interrogation which was held in the last few hours, made use of the right not to answer: his lawyers Roberto Bussinello and Mattia Destri announce the presentation of a memorial and an appeal to the Review. For the defence, the accusation of fraud would not be criminally contestable, as it was instead a civil offence: in the contracts signed by the complainants it would be specified that the cars, at that time, were not owned by the seller.
The protests
However, the accusations supported by the Scaliger Prosecutor’s Office directed by Raffaele Tito are serious, from which they dispute 30 incidents of fraud, whose complaints were presented between June 2022 and January 2024, by as many buyers as part of a sale and purchase activity of used vehicles carried out by Gianmoena in Peschiera del Garda, behind the screen of various companies. From the victims it would have emerged that the seller, also advertising the cars on websites, offered to sell them at an advantageous priceso long as payment was made in advance and subject to delivery within the following 20 days. It’s a shame, however, that the cars, according to the prosecution, were not even available to the seller as they were only owned by him on a rental basis. In any case, they would never have been delivered, even though the price had already been paid by the customer. The investigating judge, at the request of the prosecutor, ordered the seizure for equivalent of a sum of money equal to euros 274,835, corresponding to the proceeds of the alleged scams. The Finance Police thus managed to seize a small villa for residential use in Peschiera del Garda, as well as shares in two joint-stock companies, 8 valuable watches and some jewels. Among the borderline stories, that of a father and daughter who, after paying a deposit of 500 euros for a small car, shelled out “a good 14,400 euros, without getting anything in return”. The two asked for the contract to be canceled but were given back “only the small deposit”. Same fate for two spouses, same promises remained unchanged, same request: “We want our money back, all of it.”
