They bought companies in difficulty for a euro, promising to revive them through new investments. But behind the recovery projects there was a system to progressively empty the companies, transferring their resources to accounts attributable to the buyers themselves. While one of the companies began layoffs and employees went on strike for unpaid salaries, two leasing contracts were stipulated for as many Ferrari Roma, with a total cost of around 7 thousand euros per month. This is what emerges from an investigation by the Bergamo financial police which led to the preventive seizure of over 5.6 million euros from two Italians resident in Dubai.
The company purchased for 1 euro and the system to empty it
The military’s investigation began at the end of 2023, when some creditors requested and obtained the opening of the judicial liquidation of a company active in the manufacturing of metal structures. A company that, until then, had always recorded positive balance sheets.
The company had been acquired by the two suspects through an “earn out” contract: one euro as the initial price and the recognition to the previous owners of 25% of any profits deriving from the subsequent sale of the reorganized company or from the achievement of certain economic-financial objectives. The project involved new investments and the subsequent resale of the company at a higher value. According to investigators, however, from the beginning the objective would have been to steal company resources, without any real interest in continuing the business.
Through false invoices and contracts for services without effective economic justification, approximately one million euros were transferred from the company in crisis to another company attributable to the suspects. The sums would then flow into their personal and professional accounts, in exchange for non-existent services. It is on this subsequent transfer of the money that the investigative reconstruction of the self-laundering hypothesis is based.
The two Ferraris worth 7 thousand euros a month and unpaid salaries
The approximately 40 employees of the company would also have paid the consequences of the progressive removal of resources. While the company was going through an increasingly serious crisis, two leasing contracts were signed for as many Ferrari Roma. The overall cost was approximately 7 thousand euros per month, excluding insurance costs, for a total outlay of more than 170 thousand euros.
The cars, according to the Guardia di Finanza, were not necessary for the company’s business. They were found in the garages at the disposal of the suspects, who were formally unrelated to the corporate structure. In the same period, the company initiated dismissal procedures and workers went on strike for non-payment of wages.
The investigators also reconstructed the role of a frontman who, in September 2023, had submitted his resignation. He later withdrew them after receiving explicit and veiled threats from the two suspects, who alleged shared responsibility for what happened.
Subsequent attempts to avoid judicial liquidation, through the promise of finding new financial resources, were unsuccessful. In the end, the financial picture reconstructed by the investigators highlights a liability of almost 11 million euros, compared to an asset of just over 800 thousand euros: a negative imbalance close to 10 million.
The 2.2 million in financing guaranteed by the State
The investigation does not stop at the first company. According to the Guardia di Finanza, the same system would have been used for four other companies, to which recovery and relaunch interventions were proposed. The stolen resources would amount, overall, to over 1.5 million euros.
One of the companies involved is an important industrial reality with around 200 employees. In February 2025, the two suspects obtained two loans for a total of 3.3 million euros, 70% covered by the Sace guarantee. The money was supposed to be used to purchase plants and machinery, innovate the company’s technological assets and increase production capacity. The investigations instead revealed that 2.2 million euros would have been used for purposes completely different from those for which they were granted.