(This Oct. 26 story has been corrected to point out Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is being investigated and isn’t below home arrest and deletes sentence with allegation particulars in paragraphs 1 and 5)
By Emilio Parodi
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian police have positioned 4 folks below home arrest as a part of a probe into alleged unlawful entry to state databases, and are investigating dozens, together with Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, son of the late billionaire founding father of Luxottica, a supply mentioned on Saturday.
A lawyer for Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio mentioned he was “eagerly awaiting the completion of preliminary investigations to be able to prove he has nothing to do with the events in question and that charges laid against him have no basis.
“He appears to be fairly a sufferer given preliminary allegations and the detrimental end result of the search carried out,” lawyer Maria Emanuela Mascalchi said in a statement.
The alleged database access was carried out by a private intelligence business run by a former policeman, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is the son of Leonardo Del Vecchio, who founded Ray Ban-owner Luxottica. The tycoon died in 2022.
The illegal access to confidential data, which was allegedly sold to customers or used to blackmail businessmen and politicians, went back to at least 2019 and continued up to March 2024, a court document seen by Reuters showed.
Milan prosecutors allege the business intelligence agency tapped into three key databases: one gathering alerts over suspicious financial activities; one used by the national tax agency with citizens’ bank transactions, utility bills, income statements; and the police investigations’ database, the person said.
Italy’s nationwide anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo advised reporters on Saturday the probe “rang alarm bells” as a result of it make clear the “gigantic market for confidential information” which has acquired “a business-like dimension”, ANSA information company reported.
The probe follows one other latest investigation right into a large-scale information breach at Italy’s high financial institution Intesa Sanpaolo (OTC:).
