€1.2 billion inheritance squabble

Margherita Agnelli is challenging the will of of her late mother, Marella Caracciolo in a disagreement with the heirs to the FIAT estate worth €1.2 billion.

Marella Caracciolo, widow of Gianni Agnelli, died in 2019 identifying as heirs the three Elkann grandchildren: John (identified by Gianni as the heir to the dynasty) Lapo and Ginevra.

Sgra. Agnelli, claims to have been unjustly excluded from the inheritance along with her other children (from her second marriage), an exclusion made possible by the her mother’s Swiss residence. Swiss law, unlike Italian law, does not provide for mandatory shares of the estate reserved for children.

Marella and Gianni’s daughter have already challenged the will in civil proceedings and the case is ongoing. There is now however, a criminal investigation regarding the possible concealment of capital from the Italian tax authorities.

€500,000 monthly allowance

The prosecutors are verifying whether it is true, as Margherita Agnelli claims, that in the last phase of her life Marella lived in Turin for more than half of the year, and therefore should have paid taxes in Italy. The investigations concern the failure to declare the €500,000 monthly allowance that Margherita paid to her mother by virtue of the agreements made after the death of Gianni Agnelli in 2004.

The alleged tax fraud arising from Margherita Agnelli’s complaint is, “totally unsubstantiated” said lawyers Paolo Siniscalchi, Federico Cecconi and Carlo Re, defenders of John Elkann, Margherita’s eldest son and CEO of Exor, the family holding company, in a joint statement. Elkann is under investigation along with the Agnellis’ accountant, Juventus president Gianluca Ferrero.