MILAN — After being publicly scrutinized for more two years and tried in a Milan court, on Wednesday, Chiara Ferragni was acquitted in the “Pandoro Gate” and the Easter Eggs cases by Judge Ilio Mannucci Pacini.
Prosecutors in November requested a 20-month jail sentence for the social media personality, followed by Ferragni’s lawyers request for an acquittal during the Dec. 19 hearing.
As reported, in December 2023, Italy’s competition authority AGCM revealed it was fining Ferragni more than 1 million euros after finding that she allegedly misled consumers by teaming with Italian confectionery-maker Balocco in 2022 on the Pink Christmas charity project.
As per AGCM, consumers were tricked into thinking that by buying a Ferragni-branded Christmas cake, the alternative to panettone called pandoro, they were contributing to a charity for a children’s hospital. According to the regulator, Balocco made a 50,000-euro payment to the hospital months before launching the Ferragni pandoro, and that sales of the product, which retailed at double its regular price, had no effect on the donation. In addition, AGCM revealed that Ferragni allegedly received 1 million euros for the initiative, but that she made no personal donation to the hospital.
Ferragni was also tried for a similar initiative involving Easter eggs with Dolci Preziosi and was acquitted in this case, too.
Her lawyers, Giuseppe Iannaccone and Marcello Bana, have denied there was a case of grand larceny, which would include fraud and swindling.
Ferragni has already paid out 3.4 million euros in fines and donations to charities, including the Turin-based pediatric hospital Regina Margherita, originally the recipient of the charity initiative.
“My error, in good faith, was to link, via communications, a commercial activity with a charity one,” Ferragni said in 2023 on Instagram.
The Chiara Ferragni brand was launched in 2013. As she dealt with her legal issues and the repercussion from the scandal, Ferragni has been less active in the industry, and she has been restructuring her brand. In April, she revealed she had taken control of Fenice Srl, the company controlling and operating her eponymous fashion and lifestyle brand.
Ferragni long ago distanced herself from the role of influencer, piling up modeling contracts over the years with the likes of Pantene, hairstyling products company GHD, Lancôme, Pomellato, Bulgari, Hublot, Oreo and Nespresso, and taking on the role of president and chief executive officer of TBS in 2017, the company that manages her The Blonde Salad blog and activities.
