The Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested a prison sentence of one year and eight months for Chiara Ferragni (Cremona, 38 years old) in the trial over Christmas and Easter sweets in which she is accused of aggravated fraud, together with two other people. According to the charges, between 2021 and 2022 the influencer and an Italian businesswoman ran deceptive promotional campaigns implying that she would donate part of the money raised from product sales to charities. It was about pandoros: that’s why the case is known as Pandorogato—, the typical Christmas sweets of the Balocco brand, and the Easter eggs of the Dolci Preziosi brand. In both cases, the garments were sold in several campaigns with special packaging containing the Ferragni brand logo, for a much higher price than usual and for alleged charitable purposes which were not such.
The advertising led the consumer to think that part of the proceeds from the sales would go to charity in a hospital in Turin. In the case of pandoro, It was eventually discovered that the company had donated 50,000 euros to the medical center months before putting the products on the market, so the donation had no bearing on sales. Thanks to this campaign, companies linked to the Italian content creator have raised more than one million euros. She is also accused of promoting the sale of Easter eggs with the same system.
In the hearing held this Tuesday 25 November, the Milan Prosecutor’s Office asked for the same sentence for Fabio Damato, Ferragni’s former collaborator, and one year’s imprisonment for Francesco Cannillo, president of the group to which Dolci Preziosi belongs. Also accused together with them is Alessandra Balocco, president and general director of the company of the same name, who died last August.
The judicial proceedings are carried out with an abbreviated procedure, at the request of the defendants, which means that they have waived the trial phase of the trial and, in the event of a conviction, the sentence will be reduced. At the next hearing, set for December 19, Ferragni’s defense will speak and then the Milan court will give its ruling.
Ferragni went to court for the second time: she did it early and this time she entered via the subway to avoid being photographed. But the departure was public and there were a multitude of media waiting for it. “I’m confident, I can’t say anything else,” he said influencer in front of a crowd of microphones and with a straight face.
According to local media, the most famous Italian content in the world wanted to intervene spontaneously in the courtroom, despite the fact that her statement was not expected in this type of trial, and stated that everything she had done was “in good faith”. Taking into account the crime he is accused of, the prison sentence requested by the prosecution is not particularly high. According to Italian law, this crime carries penalties of one to five years of imprisonment.
It is probable that the Prosecutor’s Office took into account the fact that, to compensate for the damage caused, the influencer he made, even before the trial began, numerous donations for an amount exceeding three million euros and has already paid the fine of one million euros imposed on him by the Competition and Marking Guarantee Authority. According to the accusation, Ferragni would have made a profit of approximately 2.2 million euros from the sale of these sweets.
This case forced Ferragni to apologize in a video in which she announced that she would return one million euros to the Regina Margherita hospital in Turin. He then withdrew for a long time from public life and social networks, where he amassed a legion of 30 million followers.
The scandal also caused a crisis in its companies and reputation, which separated it from several major brands it used to advertise. Ferragni attempted to repair the damage, albeit with limited success, and the damage also became economic for its companies. His entire billion-dollar business, from brand campaigns to selling products bearing his name, is entirely built on his reputation. Last year the turnover from sales of her products barely reached two million euros, compared to 11 million in 2023. Furthermore, the media storm also triggered the breakup with her husband and father of her two children, the Italian rapper Fedez.
