Luxury cars, watches seized over alleged USD 650 million Covid-19 fraud

Luxembourg, April 5 : Italian financial police on Thursday said that it has arrested 22 people and seized assets worth more than 600 million Euros (USD 650 million) in connection with alleged fraud linked to the European Union's post-pandemic recovery fund, CNN reported on Friday.

Following the arrests from Italy, Austria, Romania and Slovakia and an investigation by the EU prosecutor, eight people were detained, 14 were placed under house arrest and two others were barred from practising their profession.

The assets that were seized during dozens of raids on homes and offices included Lamborghinis, Porsches, Rolexes, Cartier jewellery, cryptocurrencies, luxury villas and other items.

https://x.com/EUProsecutor/status/1775819883374113093

The alleged fraud is likely to renew concerns about the misuse of the EU's 800-billion euro recovery fund to help revive the bloc's economy. Italy was the largest beneficiary of the fund, with grants of more than 194 billion euros.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said a criminal organization is suspected of running a fraud scheme between 2021 and 2023 to swindle Italy's recovery packages.

In 2021, the group applied to receive non-repayable grants, the EPPO said, ostensibly to support small- and medium-sized companies, but later cooked up false balance sheets "to show that the companies were active and profitable, whereas in fact they were non-active, fictitious companies."

After getting hold of some 600 million Euros in funds from the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the group then transferred the funds to their bank accounts in Austria, Romania and Slovakia, the EPPO said, CNN reported.

The prosecutor's office claimed the group used cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence and offshore cloud servers to carry out and conceal the fraud.

The United States has also attempted to crack down on alleged fraud involving Covid-19 relief resources. A federal watchdog warned in June that the Small Business Administration distributed more than USD 200 billion in potentially fraudulent post-pandemic funds.