The Messina Financial Police has unmasked a complex system of financial scams involving 39 unsuspecting investors, for a total amount of over 3 million euros. At the center of the investigation is a Calabrian subject, investigated for abuse of financial activity, fraud and self-laundering.
The seizure order, issued by judge for preliminary investigations of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto at the request of the power of attorney directed by Giuseppe Verzera, made it possible to block movable assets, financial resources and numerous foreign current accounts attributable to the suspect.
The investigations of the Fiamme Gialle, starting from the complaints of nine people, have allowed us to reconstruct one network of fictitious foreign companies, without real operational structures, used for hide the illicit origin of the funds and reinvest the proceeds of the scams. The investors, mainly residents in the municipalities of the Tyrrhenian coast of Messina, would have been convinced of the validity of the financial operations proposed by individuals with experience in the consultancy sector, but without ever obtaining the repayment of the capital nor the promised interest.
Through a complex work of tracking money flows and the international cooperation with Eurojust, have been identified 41 current accounts, including virtual ones, active in eleven European countries – including France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the United Kingdom – on which the relevant ones were issued “Freezing Certificates”, equivalent to Italian seizures, for a total value of 3,069,800 euros.
The operation, underlines the Financial Police, testifies to the synergy between the Italian authorities and European bodies in the protection of savers, often victims of fraudulent conduct linked to the abusive management of savings.