THE influencer The Italian Chiara Ferragni, accused of aggravated fraud for having promoted sweets with supposed charitable objectives which were subsequently no longer true, defended her innocence before the judge. During the last hearing of the trial, which was held this Friday, December 19, the Italian businesswoman’s lawyers requested her acquittal. “Know that Chiara is innocent no matter how you look at this case. There is no crime,” lawyers Giuseppe Iannaccone and Marcello Bana told the media after presenting their defensive arguments in the courtroom. Ferragni’s legal team also said they provided the judge with documents that support the “multiple reasons” they believe support their client’s innocence.
Ferragni opted for the trial to take place under the abbreviated procedure, meaning he waived the debate phase and, if found guilty, the sentence will be reduced. During previous hearings, although her statement was not planned in this type of trial, the content creator wanted to intervene before the judge and declared that she had always acted “in good faith” and had at most made a few “communication errors”. The sentence is expected to be announced next month.
The case attracted considerable media attention in Italy. This Friday, at the exit of the Milan court where the facts are being judged, dozens of journalists were waiting for Ferragni. THE influencerAs on previous occasions, he ruled out making any statements. “I listened to my lawyers and I am calm and confident. I hope everything goes well,” she simply declared.
One of the world’s most famous content creators is accused of aggravated fraud, along with two others. According to the accusations, between 2021 and 2022, the influencer and an Italian businesswoman designed misleading promotional campaigns in which she implied she would donate to charity with part of the money raised from product sales. It was about pandores – this is why the case is known as Pandoragate—, typical Christmas sweets from the Balocco brand and Easter eggs from the Dolci Preziosi brand. In both cases, the items were sold in different campaigns with special packaging containing the Ferragni brand logo, at a significantly higher price than usual and for supposed charitable purposes which were not any.
The ad led the consumer to believe that part of the profits from the sale would be donated to charity at a hospital in Turin. In the case of pandoresit was eventually discovered that the company had donated 50,000 euros to the medical center months before putting the products on the market, so this donation had nothing to do with sales. Companies linked to the Italian content creator have raised more than a million euros thanks to this campaign. She is also accused of having promoted the sale of Easter eggs with the same system.
The prosecution lawyer representing a consumer association stressed during the previous hearing that fans trusted the influencers and that if they tell them to buy something, they do it. During the previous hearing, the prosecution also requested a sentence of one year and eight months in prison. Prosecutors examined emails in which, according to the prosecution, it was clear that the instructions to manage the sale of the influencer’s candy had been given by Ferragni’s companies. And they explained that when messages arrived from customers asking how much of the sale price – which almost triples the usual cost of the products – would be allocated to charity, Balocco officials either did not respond or beat around the bush. The same thing happened during the rebuild with the Easter eggs.
Ferragni, before the judge, spoke, on the other hand, of the many charitable activities she has carried out over the years, including the fundraiser she created in the past, with her then husband, the rapper Fedez, for the intensive care unit of San Raffaele during the coronavirus pandemic or her public statements to condemn violence against women.
A few days ago, Pasquale Morgese, businessman and former partner of Chiara Ferragni, accused the influencer of prioritizing immediate profits over the products she promoted and defined the content creator’s brand as “a profit-generating machine.” “Chiara only thought about making money. That was her new mission. Acquisition, expansion. The value was no longer the product, the emotion of the customer or the identity of the brand. The value was the profit. And that’s it,” Morgese said in an interview on Italian public television. Far West.
Following the scandal of pandorathe millionaire empire that influencer had raised on social networks is starting to suffer: its turnover is collapsing, the big brands whose image it is are distancing themselves from it and its reputation is being damaged. Furthermore, the media storm also triggered a break with her husband and father of her two children, the Italian rapper Fedez.
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