Chiara Ferragni sent to trial, with direct summons, for cases of alleged misleading advertising related to the sales, at inflated prices and disguised as charity initiatives, which took place between 2021 and 2022, of the Balocco “Pink Christmas” pandoro and the Dolci Preziosi Easter eggs.
The influencer's defense made it known. "I sincerely believed that it was not necessary to hold a trial to prove that I had never defrauded anyone," she commented. " Unfortunately, I will have to live with this accusation for some time, which I consider profoundly unjust , but I am ready to fight with even greater determination to bring out my absolute innocence."
"We remain firmly convinced that this case has no criminal relevance and that every controversial aspect has already been addressed and resolved before the AGCM", is the note from Chiara Ferragni's lawyers, Giuseppe Iannaccone and Marcello Bana. "The dialogue with the Public Prosecutors did not have the desired outcome and the Prosecutor's Office preferred to delegate every decision to the trial Judge despite the evident absence of conduct constituting a crime and the lack of conditions for admissibility - the lawyers maintain - The innocence of our client will certainly be established in the trial that we will face calmly ".
The pre-trial hearing will open on September 23 before the third criminal section of the Milan Court , in a single-judge composition, not only for Ferragni: the influencer's co-defendants for whom the prosecutor Cristian Barilli and the deputy Eugenio Fusco have signed the direct summons decree are her former collaborator Fabio Damato, Alessandra Balocco, CEO of the confectionery company, and Francesco Cannillo, president of Cerealitalia-ID .
Among the people informed about the facts there are also 8 consumers who allegedly purchased the products sponsored by Chiara Ferragni and two representatives of associations, the Association of Radio and Television Users and Italian Consumers.
In total there will be 27 witnesses: six investigators from the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Gdf of Milan, who conducted the investigations, and four from the Gdf of Bari in relation to the chapter on Cerealitalia's Easter eggs. Then, another seven witnesses, including people from Ferragni's staff and already heard in the investigations, and who will have to report on the "genesis and development - it says - of the promotional campaign of the products", on the "relations between the companies involved", on the "requests received by consumers" and on the "decision-making centers of the respective companies".
Ten witnesses, including the eight buyers, will have to speak about the purchases made and the impact "of the communication regarding the charitable activity on the decision to purchase". It will be the judge, after the pre-trial hearing, a sort of screening before the trial, who will have to decide whether or not to open the trial against the defendants.
The charges contested in the decree are those of aggravated fraud already contained in the closure of the investigation last October. Then, at the end of December there was the agreement between Ferragni and Codacons which had filed the complaint that had triggered the investigation. The influencer decided not only to compensate the consumers who had turned to the association with 150 euros each, but also to donate 200 thousand euros to charity to an organization dedicated to supporting and protecting women victims of violence. Codacons has thus revoked the complaint and is no longer an injured party.
(Online Union)