In the dispute over the inheritance of Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli, court documents show how rapidly shares in the car company were transferred to his grandson – whose own mother suspects fraud.
Translation of the article By Ingo Malcher appeared in DIE ZEIT on 13.7.2023
What’s the easiest way to transfer a fortune to your grandchildren? In this case, one of the world’s most famous car companies? In the case of the shares in Fiat, the Agnelli family used a discreet trustee, an exclusive Swiss private bank, and a form of company that small farmers in Italy normally use to register their farms. It’s not surprising, however, that there’s trouble because relatives think they’ve been robbed of a lot of money in the deal. A lot of money, in fact.
One of the most expensive inheritance disputes in Europe is currently being fought out in Turin. Negotiations are underway over the billion-dollar estate of Gianni Agnelli, the ruler of an empire that included shares in Fiat as well as stakes in Ferrari and the Juventus Turin soccer club. Last November, DIE ZEIT reported on how Gianni Agnelli’s only daughter, Margherita Agnelli, is suing her own children from her first marriage. She believes she was damaged in the division of the inheritance and is accusing her children John, Lapo, and Ginevra Elkann of having cheated her together with their grandmother Marella Agnelli, who has since died. Court documents now evaluated by DIE ZEIT show how rapidly shares in the billion-dollar Fiat corporation were distributed after the patriarch’s death. And how easily a gigantic fortune was shifted on paper. The question arises as to whether everything was above board. Or whether family members staged a cover-up maneuver.
The DIE ZEIT sent the Elkann siblings a list of questions, to which a confidant of theirs responded with a statement. It was absurd to claim that Margherita Agnelli had come off too badly. She had distanced herself from the family, renounced part of the inheritance and now wants an undeserved second piece of the pie (she has already received around 800 million euros from the inheritance). The Turin trial has been suspended since early June. The court first wants to await the decision of two proceedings in Switzerland, where the relatives are also in dispute.
The trials in Switzerland and Italy provide a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a heavily wealthy dynasty. The dispute between Margherita Agnelli and her children involves no less than 4.6 billion euros, as the mother claims. If she were to be proven right, these assets would have to be redistributed. This would also have consequences for the Stellantis car group, in which Fiat has since been merged. Magherita’s son John Elkann sits on the supervisory board. The children are relaxed. Their confidant says that the mother will not get away with her demands and that there are no possible consequences for other companies.
The mother’s anger is particularly inflamed by an episode in which the shares in a company called Dicembre were transferred from the grandmother to the grandchildren. The mother claims that she was passed over in a kind of grandchild trick. The matter is convoluted, as it always is when a lot of money is involved. The company Dicembre is the family’s treasure chest, through which the patriarch Gianni Agnelli controlled the Fiat Group. Today, through Dicembre, shares are also indirectly held in Stellantis, one of the largest car companies in the world. And it is also the company whose legal form as a society semplice is intended more for small farmers than for a global corporation.
During Gianni Agnelli’s lifetime, according to a notary’s list obtained by DIE ZEIT, John Elkann, his mother Margherita Agnelli, Gianni’s wife Marella Agnelli, and he himself each held a quarter of the shares in the company. However, only the patriarch had voting rights. After Gianni Agnelli’s death in 2003, his shares were divided among the remaining three shareholders. Then, in a deal that was difficult to see through, the wife (and Elkann grandmother) Marella bought the shares of daughter Margherita. Then, in 2019, she too passed away. Today, John Elkann holds 60 percent of the shares, while his siblings Ginevra and Lapo each hold 20 percent. But there are two versions of how exactly this came about.
Margherita Agnelli has a fairly simple view of things. She claims in court that her mother Marella gave the shares to her grandchildren as a gift – but that the deal was made to look like a purchase. The imputed intention behind this is: A gift would be invalid under Italian inheritance law because the mother cannot skip her own daughter. But if the grandchildren had bought the shares, there would be nothing to complain about – and Margherita Agnelli would not be able to claim anything.
So, one understands why the mother claims that the Fiat shares are a gift from the kind grandmother to the grandchildren. And one understands just as well why the grandchildren want to see their grandmother portrayed as not so generous. They have therefore submitted all kinds of documents to the court in their defense. And they firmly believe, as the confidant puts it, that “nothing can undo the transfer of the Dicembre shares to the Elkanns.”
But if you go through the submitted documents, you will come across some strange things. The first thing that stands out is that there are no bank statements that could prove such a transaction. With these, the accusation that the grandmother made gifts to the grandchildren could be settled once and for all. “We have explained and provided evidence on how the sale took place,” writes the confidant. In the files, which the DIE ZEIT could see, there are then also pages and pages of forms and letters from a Turin trust company. According to the Elkann siblings, this company was involved in the purchase of the shares in Dicembre. True to the motto: Why be simple when you can be complicated?
There is nothing simple about the matter, but everything happened amazingly fast. On 6 May 2004, according to the documents submitted, the trustee from Turin signs an application to open an account for the position 421 existing with him at the private bank Pictet in Geneva. He informs that behind the position there is a person named John Philip Elkann, nationality “Italian”, profession and personal situation: “wealthy”. Origin of wealth: “family fortune”. On the documents, there is no receipt stamp of the bank. And, strangely enough, the lines on the application form where the customer’s telephone number or e-mail address are usually entered are also blank.
The forms of Lapo Elkann (item 422) and Ginevra Elkann (423) also say no more. There, too, the prospective clients are “Italian”, “wealthy” and have “family assets”. If the private bank Pictet was content with this information, it was quite little. Especially regarding the origin of the money, the information is thin. Where would Lapo and Ginevra Elkann, then 26 and 24 years old, get the millions they would transfer to grandmother Marella? The siblings’ confidant states that as members of a wealthy family, they would have had the means to do so. And the bank Pictet answered questions about the transaction by saying that they do not provide information “about existing or non-existing, past or future client relationships.”
An eventful day in the transaction, according to the documents, was 19 May 2004. On that day, many things happened in several places at once or one after the other. In any case, Ginevra and Lapo Elkann signed letters in Turin asking the trustee to transfer 39.2 million euros each, and 2.5 million for John Elkann. By fax, the trustee then instructs the bank Pictet at shortly after 2 p.m. to transfer a total of just over 80.9 million euros from trust positions 421, 422 and 423 to position 420, which is assigned to the grandmother. On the same day, a notary in Geneva also certifies the signatures of the grandchildren and the grandmother under the purchase agreements.
Anyone who thinks that a multi-million-euro deal involving the transfer of shares in a major European car company takes time is mistaken. On the same day, the trustee of the “Gentile Signora” Marella Agnelli confirms receipt of the 80 million euros. But not only that. The trustee’s letter of 19 May 2004, filed in court, also states that on 21 May 2004, the 80.9 million euros were moved to another trustee position and therefore “as of today” there were still a little more than 50,000 euros on position 421, after another 40,000 euros were credited on 31 May 2004. What, please! Could the trustee really look into the future and already sign on 19 May what would not occur until 31 May? Or did someone make a mistake? It’s not all that clear, it’s a complete mess.
This makes one wonder, because the group of people who took care of the matter was manageable. It should be mentioned in passing that the trustee who signed the payment orders to the Pictet bank was a man named Giovanni Viani. He worked not only at the trust company, but also in a senior position at the bank Pictet – and faxed the requests to please just transfer a total of 80.9 million euros to Pictet, for the attention of a “G. Viani”, i.e. to himself. At least that is how it appears in the documents.
So, did anyone really go to the trouble of making a gift look like a purchase, as Margherita Agnelli claims? The Elkann siblings’ confidant says: All purchase agreements between the grandchildren and the grandmother were “conscientiously drawn up and notarized in compliance with the applicable legal provisions and procedures”. Therefore, one is “convinced of the absolute correctness of all our statements”.
But even if the 80.9 million euros actually flowed, that would be ridiculously little, according to Margherita Agnelli’s lawyers. She has had an expert opinion prepared on Dicembre. This values the company in 2004 at one billion euros, today it is worth more than four times that. In any case, 80 million euros for around 41 percent of the shares would have been quite a bargain at the time. But clearly, it’s a partisan opinion of the mother. The Elkann siblings’ confidant points out that in 2004 Fiat was almost bankrupt. They are now “respectfully awaiting the decision of the Swiss courts.” This patience may pay off in the end. The Agnelli family has been fighting over the inheritance for almost 20 years. John Elkann, the eldest son, is now 47 years old, and his mother Margherita 67. Time is running against them.
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