Financial crime in Italy: what a foreign company faces
Two features of Italian practice surprise foreign companies more than any charge. The company itself is prosecuted alongside the individuals, under a separate liability regime with its own penalties. And assets are frozen at the investigation stage, years before any judgment, in an amount corresponding to the alleged profit — which for a business is usually the real emergency.
The company is a defendant
Legislative Decree 231/2001 created a liability of the entity itself for offences committed in its interest or to its advantage by people in senior positions or under their direction. It applies to foreign companies operating in Italy, and it is not vicarious: the entity is judged on its own organisation.
The defence is therefore different in kind from the individual's. It is not about what happened but about whether the company had adopted and effectively implemented an organisational model capable of preventing offences of that type, and whether a supervisory body was actually functioning. Penalties include financial sanctions calculated in units and, in serious cases, measures that suspend the activity itself.
Money laundering and self-laundering are among the predicate offences, which is how a tax or accounting matter turns into proceedings against the entity.
The offences that recur
| Area | What is typically charged | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | Fraudulent or untrue returns, unpaid VAT, false invoicing | Legislative Decree 74/2000 |
| Insolvency | Fraudulent bankruptcy where assets were removed | Business Crisis and Insolvency Code |
| Corporate | False corporate communications, unlawful capital operations | Civil Code, corporate offences |
| Laundering | Handling, laundering, self-laundering of proceeds | Art. 648, 648-bis, 648-ter.1 Criminal Code |
| Fraud | Fraud, aggravated fraud against the State or the EU | Art. 640 and 640-bis |
| Entity liability | Proceedings against the company itself | Legislative Decree 231/2001 |
Self-laundering deserves a note of its own. Since 2014 the person who commits the predicate offence can also be prosecuted for reinvesting the proceeds, and the two charges are routinely brought together. The defence turns on a single word in the provision: the reinvestment must concretely obstruct identification of the criminal origin. A traceable transfer into an account in your own name does not.
Seizure is the emergency
A preventive seizure can be ordered during the investigation and can reach accounts, shares, property and receivables — including by equivalent, meaning assets unconnected to the alleged offence up to the value of the supposed profit. For an operating business this stops everything long before any court has decided anything.
The deadline is ten days from execution to apply for review before a court. Companies routinely spend those ten days deciding which firm to instruct, and then discover the remedy has gone.
- Establish exactly what has been seized, and on what legal basis.
- Check how the alleged profit was calculated: it is very often overstated, and it sets the ceiling of the seizure.
- Apply for release of what is needed for the business to continue operating.
- Keep the company's defence and the individuals' defences distinct: their interests are not identical.
Searches and the tax police
Investigations in this area usually begin with a search of company premises and the seizure of servers, devices and accounting records. Copying digital material is a technical operation that cannot be repeated identically, which means the defence must be given notice and may appoint its own expert.
A tax audit is not a criminal proceeding, but it feeds one: findings pass to the prosecutor once thresholds are crossed. The two run in parallel with different rules on what can be used, and treating them as one process is a common and expensive mistake.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign company be prosecuted in Italy?
Yes. Legislative Decree 231/2001 provides for liability of the entity itself for offences committed in its interest, and it applies to foreign companies operating in Italy.
Can they freeze assets before any trial?
Yes. Preventive seizure is ordered during the investigation and can extend by equivalent to assets unconnected with the alleged offence, up to the value of the supposed profit.
How long do I have to challenge a seizure?
Ten days from execution, before the review court. It is the shortest and most frequently missed deadline in this area.
What is self-laundering?
Reinvesting the proceeds of your own offence in economic or financial activity in a way that concretely obstructs identification of their criminal origin. A traceable transfer to your own account normally does not.
If assets have been frozen
The ten-day clock starts on execution, not on the day the board meets. First contact is free and covered by professional privilege.