They defrauded companies by posing as leading companies in the supply sector, making millions in profits: 9 people were arrested by the carabinieriaccused of criminal conspiracy aimed at committing fraud, receiving stolen goods and fraudulent bankruptcy.
In the early hours of the morning, the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Savona, throughout the national territory and in particular in the provinces of Milan, Monza Brianza, Naples, Catania, Imperia and Novara, executed an order from the investigating judge of Savona, at the request of the local Public Prosecutor’s Office, against 9 people (8 in prison and 1 under house arrest), all Italians between 34 and 73 years of age.
The operation, which involved over 70 soldiers, both from the Provincial Command of Savona and from the territorially competent Carabinieri commands, comes at the end of a complex investigation carried out by the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit of Savona and of the Alassio Company, coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Republic of Savona, which started last October after a raid by the Carabinieri in a warehouse in Villanova d’Albenga (SV) where 55 tons of goods from fraudulent proceeds worth over 230,000 euros were found. During the investigations, serious clues were gathered regarding the existence of a criminal organization capable of defrauding, between May 2023 and May 2024, hundreds of companies, some of which were famous, operating on the national territory, causing losses for several million euros.
According to what emerged, the suspects, after having taken over as directors and partners in at least 9 companies no longer operational and taken over at modest prices, transformed the corporate object by including the resale of various types of products (from construction, to food, to hi-tech). Subsequently, false financial statements were filed whose huge profits, in fact non-existent, were allocated to increasing the share capital, making the company apparently solid. The increase in share capital and the absence of reports/disputes, due solely to the inactivity of the company, allowed the company reliability index detectable by rating companies to rise, so much so as to mislead the supplier companies that granted the company of the suspects supplies, even of large commercial value, accepting payments in 30 or even 60 days which were then not honoured. Once the unpaid debts were reported, the company’s reliability rating suffered a sharp drop, so much so that the criminal activity could not continue.
The companies “burned” from time to time, whose operational headquarters were located in Villanova d’Albenga (SV) and San Giuliano Milanese (MI), were systematically abandoned in a state of serious financial distress and the proceeds given by the sale of the goods, destined to a proven network of receivers, were divided among the suspects, taking them away from the creditors, causing unpaid debts of over 3 million euros and accruing tax debts of over 2 million euros.
At the request and initiative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Savona, which noted the clear situation of insolvency of the company, the Bankruptcy Court declared the opening of judicial liquidation against these companies, whose managers were also investigated for the crime of fraudulent bankruptcy.
Desperate due to the serious economic loss, numerous victims showed up at the company headquarters but there was no trace of them; telephone calls to get the amount due are useless. Indeed, the victims were mocked by the scammers as evidenced by some intercepted telephone conversations.
During the search operations, other people were reported for receiving stolen goods and several quintals of goods were seized for a very significant overall value, which will be returned to the unfortunate suppliers.
