Italy Tax Police Search Legal Firms in Agnelli Inheritance Probe

The case stems froma wider inheritance dispute between the Elkanns and their mother Margheritaover the estate of Gianni Agnelli, which has divided one of Italy’s best known business dynasties. An Italian judge in Septemberseized money and assets worth almost 75 million euros($78.77 million) from the five people involved.

Prosecutors in Turin said in a statement on Tuesday that the searches were aimed at collecting documents for the probe, regarding transfers of shares in Dicembre (December), the holding company owned by the three Elkann siblings at the top of the ownership structure of Exor, the Agnelli family’s investment firm.

In particular, prosecutors allege contracts regarding a 2004 transfer of a 40% stake in Dicembre from Marella Caracciolo to John, Lapo and Ginevra were “insufficient, altered or falsified” and that succession taxes were not paid.

The Elkanns’ lawyers said in a statement the three sibling were not personally targeted by the tax police searches and that their clients reaffirmed that all their acts relating to Dicembre were legitimate.

“The current structure of Dicembre as well as the role held in it by John Elkann reflect the wishes of Gianni and Marella Agnelli, are supported by the entire family and cannot be changed by any legal action,” they said.

As part of the wider probe, Turin’s prosecutors said in September their investigation showed that Caracciolo was a resident in Italy from at least 2010, and not Switzerland as claimed, and that her inheritance therefore should have been taxed in Italy.