Agnelli inheritance: Margherita is claiming 1.3 million for non-pecuniary damages alone

The amount claimed for ‘non-pecuniary’ damages alone, as alleged by Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen in her application to join the proceedings as a civil party, filed today in Turin at the opening of the preliminary hearing, stands at one million three hundred thousand euros. This has been reported in judicial circles. Furthermore, Margherita’s defence team is reported to have pointed out to the preliminary hearing judge that the matter concerning Dicembre remains unresolved, as civil proceedings are currently underway before the Turin Court which could lead – according to their argument – to the annulment of the succession agreements and a transfer of company shares to Margherita herself.

This brings the first round before the preliminary hearing judge in Turin to a close in the case centring on the estate of Marella Caracciolo, the lawyer’s widow. Margherita Agnelli, through her lawyers, has asked the judge to allow her to join the proceedings as a civil party, and the case will return to court on 11 September to discuss this.

This was the first preliminary hearing at which all the various strands of the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation were brought together; the investigation had been triggered by a complaint lodged by Margherita herself regarding her mother’s place of residence (which, from her point of view, would call into question the inheritance arrangements). At the heart of the allegations are claims of fraud against the State and fraudulent tax returns relating to John Elkann and the accountant Gianluca Ferrero. As part of this ‘plan’, the lawyer continues, Margherita was also allegedly excluded ‘from holding significant shareholdings and/or control of Dicembre, the family’s holding company’.

Could John Elkann be seeking a plea bargain? “Today, only Margherita Agnelli’s application to join the proceedings as a civil party was filed,” states Paolo Siniscalchi, a member of Elkann’s defence team, before going into detail about Margherita’s decision to “seek compensation for non-pecuniary damage from her son. I believe that, objectively speaking, there is little that is moral about this claim, given that Margherita Agnelli was not excluded from her parents’ succession but left at a very critical time for the group, leaving John Elkann with the burden of restructuring and keeping afloat a compromised industrial enterprise’. The lawyer goes on to say that whilst Margherita ‘became a billionaire and walked away from the group her father had led, John Elkann took on the burden and responsibility of carrying it forward’.

As for Dicembre, the holding company that controls Exor, Margherita “has left the company’s ownership structure and is now merely a former shareholder with no legal authority to act. Dicembre’s ownership structure has been firmly established for a very long time and cannot be changed”.