Franco Novelli was acquitted of self-laundering. The former notary was on trial for the alleged fraud of selling diamonds to celebrities at prices deemed too high by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Vasco Rossi at the San Siro concert on 12 June 2024 (photo from LaPresse)
Was acquitted from the accusation of self-laundering the former notary Franco Novelli because “the fact does not exist”. This was decided by the Court of Milan in the hearing held yesterday, Thursday 27 June, during which it also ordered the release of 178 million euros. Novelli had been the administrator of Intermarket Diamond Business (Idb), the company which together with Diamond Private Investment spa (Dpi) had been accused by the Prosecutor of having sold diamonds at a higher price than the market price, even to VIPs such as Vasco Rossi and Federica Panicucci.
The PM Grace Colacicco had requested in 2021 the referral to trial of 105 individuals and five companies, including Banca Bpm, Unicredit, Mps and Banca Aletti. The positions of Intesa San Paolo and Dpi spa had been excerpts, because they had negotiated.
According to the prosecution, between 2012 and 2016 Idb and Dpi spa had urged investors and savers to buy diamonds at a higher price than the market price. To do so, they had published in newspapers quotes that were probably considered false. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, to succeed in this operation they had played a role credit institutions are fundamentalwho acted as intermediaries between the companies and their customers. The alleged illicit profits had reached almost 500 million euros, causing damage to thousands of investors.
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The trial against Novelli, the only one for which the trial was still going on in Milan, ended on 27 June with full acquittal. Together with him, Idb of which he had been was also acquitted administrator until 2019when the company declared bankruptcy.
