Cannavaro under investigation for tax evasion

Naples – The authorities confiscated some 900,000 euros and a yacht belonging to FD Service Ltd., the luxury boats rental company owned by the famous football player. Tax fraud: this was the conclusion reached by the Naples prosecutor’s office after the investigation into Fabio Cannavaro. Yesterday the Financial Police confiscated 900 thousand euros worth of assets belonging to the footballer. The investigation, which was carried out by prosecutor Fabrizio Vanorio and coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Fausto Zuccarelli, revealed significant tax fraud in the rental company of luxury boats that Cannavaro ran with his wife.

The seizure order was issued in the names of Cannavaro, the former captain of the national team, his wife Daniela Arenoso, and Eugenio Tuccillo, all listed as owners. They are all accused of fraudulent tax evasion. The prosecutor also investigated Cannavaro’s brother-in-law and Giovanni De Vita, his tax advisor, who was considered the “instigator of the evasion mechanism.” The findings of the investigation showed that Cannavaro and his wife used three yachts belonging to “FD Service Ltd” charter company for their personal travels rather than for hire, the activity for which the company was created.

The three boats used in this operation were a Pershing 62 Massivus; a Pershing 76 Chriman Naples and a Pershing 72’ Chriman II. Tuccillo had apparently bought all the shares of the “FD Service,” during the tax probe conducted by the Revenues Agency, and he immediately put it into liquidation. The Financial Police seized monies Cannavaro held in current accounts and an Itama 38 boat worth 180 thousand euro, moored in Capri. The tax investigation focused on the period between 2005 and 2010: during that time - the investigators point out – the suspects have not paid State Corporate Income Tax, Regional Company Tax and VAT worth more than one million euro.

The findings of the investigation show that from Dubai, where he played for a time, Fabio Cannavaro poured money every month into the FD Service bank account to make sure the company was run properly. These payments continued even after the sale of the shares to the elderly Eugenio Tuccillo. “Because the sale of shares took place only in order to liquidate the company and avoid the tax assessment inquiry by the tax authorities, the company’s business has been increasingly diminishing until it disappeared completely, so much so that the company FD Service had disappeared a few months after the end of the tax probe, together with the notification of the first assessment notices and extensions of the investigation.”