For example, “pseudo-Crozetto” asked Italy’s largest businessmen to pay the ransom of Italian citizens imprisoned or kidnapped in Iran and Syria.
Victims of the scammers included Prada president Bertelli, fashion designer Giorgio Armani, top manager of Pirelli & C. SpA Marco Provera and former Inter Milan football club owner Massimo Moratti.
The story was confirmed by Crozetto himself:
“A well-known businessman, whom I don’t know, wanted to contact me. I gave him my phone number. But when he called, he told me that he had already communicated with me. And later, at the behest of some ‘general’, he made a very large transfer.”
