Chiara Ferragni and the pandoro, the investigation into the hypothesis of fraud

On the issue of the Balocco pandoro designed by Chiara Ferragni, it is possible that the possible crime hypothesis (yet to be formulated) will change. Deputy Prosecutor Eugenio Fusco examined the information from the Guardia di Finanza with the results of the Antitrust investigation on the pandoro affair and all the attached documents, and it seems that, as far as the accusatory perspective is concerned, from the crime of commercial fraud, at the moment, we are oriented more towards that of fraud.

The investigation, however, is currently without suspects and no crime. In December the Antitrust fined two companies headed by Chiara Ferragni more than one million euros and Balocco another 400 thousand euros, holding them responsible for a misleading campaign with which the «Pink Christmas» pandoro was advertised and sold at two and a half times the cost of the non-branded product.

Consumers would have been induced to think that they could contribute to a charity operation for the Regina Margherita children's hospital in Turin with the purchase of each pandoro, while the confectionery company had paid the hospital 50 thousand euros in total, well before the «Pink Christmas» campaign. They would have been emails are decisive for the choice of the Guarantor Authority that one of the influencer's companies would have exchanged with Balocco, to plan the pandoro promotion campaign, in which the risk that the advertising could be “misleading” was already raised.

The deputy prosecutor Eugenio Fusco will have to establish whether the considerations present in the emails can be considered “artifices and deception” capable of configuring the crime of fraud.