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19 February 2019 Five banks are being investigated in Milan as part of an investigation into an alleged scam on the sale of diamonds to investors and savers. As part of the investigation, the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza carried out a preventive seizure decree of over 700 million euros. The banks investigated are Banco Bpm, Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mps and Banca Aletti and are responsible for the violation of Law 231 of 2001.According to Deputy Prosecutor Riccardo Targetti and prosecutor Grazia Colacicco, two companies - Intermarket Diamond Business spa (IDB) and Diamond Private Investement (DPI) - have deceived savers by inflating the value of diamonds, with the support of the banks. The seizure is thus broken down, for the fraud offense hypothesis: 149 million against IDB, 165 million DPI, 83.8 of Banco Bpm and Banca Aletti, 32 million of Unicredit, 11 million of Intesa Sanpaolo , 35.5 Mps. For the self-laundering hypothesis, the seizure is 179 million for IDB and 88 million for PPE. Among the customers who would have been cheated, there is also the singer Vasco Rossi.
The criminal investigation follows the findings of the Antitrust which, at the conclusion of two investigations, had fined the selling companies and the banks for a total of over 15 million euros. In October 2016, the TV program 'Report' compared the list prices of the diamonds sold by IDB and DPI, with the same carat, brilliance and purity, with the prices of Rapaport, the international diamond list recognized in Worldwide. It had emerged that those sold by the two companies targeted by the Milan prosecutor had a double price compared to that indicated by Rapaport. The Antitrust Authority had verified that those who had bought them and wanted to sell them on the market risked losing us and, therefore, they were led to relocate them through the same company that had sold them to them, but paying high commissions for the divestment. Still according to the Authority, and it is also the hypothesis on which the Prosecutor is working, the lenders were the main channel for the sale of diamonds for both companies of which they used the information material to 'place' the valuable to customers, playing a crucial intermediary role. The facts at the center of the investigation are between 2012 and 2016.
The general manager of Banco Bpm Maurizio Faroni is also investigated in the investigation by the Milan prosecutor. Faroni is accused of allegations of fraud, self-laundering and obstacles to the exercise of supervisory functions. The investigation also investigates other Banco Bpm executives, as well as managers of the two companies IDB and DPI who sold the precious goods to investors.
There is also Vasco Rossi among the alleged victims of the maxi scam in the sale of diamonds. The rock star had invested 2.5 million euros in valuables.
Other VIP customers who would have been duped in diamond sales also include Diana Bracco, the TV presenter Federica Panicucci and the former showgirl Simona Tagli. In particular, Simona Tagli would have made an investment of around 29 thousand euros and Federica Panicucci of around 54 thousand euros. Investigators have reconstructed the positions of about a hundred defrauded people, but the scams would have been made against many other subjects.