The war of the Lambs, Margherita facing her children in the battle for the inheritance: here’s what happened in court

For the first time after years of battle there was a confrontation in court between Margherita Agnelli de Pahlenthe lawyer’s second daughter, and the three children the woman had with her first husband Alain Elkann: John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann. The face-to-face meeting took place at the Palace of Justice in Geneva.

The legacy of Gianni Agnelli

The cause is known: the agreement on Gianni Agnelli’s inheritance. The lawyer died in 2003 and the agreement signed in Switzerland by Margherita Agnelli and her mother dates back to the following year. Around 1.3 billion would have gone to the daughter, including cash, properties and works of art, in exchange for renouncing claims on her father’s assets and on the shares in the company, the basis of the Agnelli empire. Dicembre, this is the name of the company, is controlled, as Corriere della Sera recalls, 60% by John Elkann and the remaining 40 in equal shares by the brothers Lapo and Ginevra. All other properties and shareholdings belong to this company: from Juventus to Ferrari, from Giovanni Agnelli BV to Exor, from Stellantis to Philips.

After 2004 Margherita Agnelli no longer considered the agreement adequate and since 2007 he has been in litigation with his children. of first bed. The ongoing lawsuit was initiated by Marella Caracciolo, to confirm the validity of the 2004 settlement deed, and her nephews took over as heirs upon her death.

John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann testified behind closed doors on the morning of Friday 29 November, one after the other. The mother also intervened and the hearing ended shortly after midday and lasted approximately three hours. Margherita Agnelli says that the inheritance agreement is not valid, the children argue the opposite, recalling that their mother has benefited from the assets in recent years. Over the years, the validity of Marella Caracciolo’s inheritance agreement has also been called into question. The grandchildren maintain that it complies with Swiss legislation and in line with the will of the grandparents, the lawyer’s second daughter instead says that the Swiss law cannot be valid, since Marella Agnelli lives in Italy, despite her declared residence in Switzerland. This is also the central issue for the criminal investigation opened in parallel in Turin for tax fraud and fraud against the State. The three Elkann brothers, the accountant Gianluca Ferrero and the Swiss notary Urs von Grünigen are under investigation. The Turin prosecutors have requested the seizure of 74.8 million from the suspects. To this was added a civil proceeding in Thun: the Elkann brothers are asking for recognition as heirs on the basis of Marella Caracciolo’s wills.

The courtroom encounter is also exceptional because it feels like the last twenty years the woman and her first three children met no more than four times. The occasions would have been the weddings of John and Ginevra and the funeral, in 2019, of Donna Marella as well as when Lapo was hospitalized in very serious conditions on 11 October 2005 at the Mauriziano Hospital in Turin. Mother and children have not spared each other blows over the years: John Elkann said he suffered psychological and physical violence from his mother.