Inter Milan football manager Antonio Conte is trying to recover €30.6m (£28m, $36m) he invested in a firm he believed to be back by HSBC.
According to Italian newspaper La Verità, London-based Italian financier Massimo Bochicchio orchestrated the fraud, which has conned eight investors, including former Chelsea manager Conte, out of millions of euros.
He promised high returns on investments made in his company Kidman Asset Management, which he claimed was linked to and backed by HSBC.
Bochicchio previously worked at HSBC’s global banking and markets division until 2012.
But the documents proving the company was linked to the UK bank proved to be false.
Where is the money?
The eight investors took legal action against the financier and had reached a stellement in May, which would see Bochicchio pay them €33.1m by 30 June 2020.
But they never received the money.
They then wrote to Bochicchio, only to find out his email address was fake, before turning to the UK authorities.
On 17 July, commercial court judge Dave Foxton issued a payment injunction against Bochicchio for failing to reimburse the eight victims, on the basis that the funds were not used in the way he originally promised.
Both Bochicchio and HSBC denied in court that his firm, Kidman, was in any way connected to the bank.
He is now bound to repay investors, including £27m ($34.5m, €29.5m) to Conte and £6.5m to Luxembourg-based firm Palesa.
Failure to comply will result in the seizure of his assets.
The fraudster’s $61.4m (£47.7m, €52.3m) assets, which includes luxury properties in Miami, Italy and London, have been frozen.
