Police Seize EUR1.5M from Briatore on Tax Fraud Suspicion

Former Formula 1 manager Flavio Briatore is EUR 1.5 million poorer this week, after the Italian authorities have seized the aforementioned sum of money from his European bank accounts.

Back in 2010, we reported to you that Briatore's yacht, Force Blue, had been seized by the Italian police in the port of La Spezia, near the northern city of Genoa, on the suspicion it was improperly registered as a charter.

It was then believed that the yacht was in fact used by Briatore and his family – as he had a new house built at the time – and was falsely registered as a charter in order to obtain a tax break and to avoid paying sales tax when anchoring in European harbors.

“They (investigators) suspect the yacht is not chartered at all and in fact is used only by Briatore's family,” said a media report at the time.

Now, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica cited by the GMM news agency, the financial police Guardia di Finanza have seized EUR 1.5M from Briatore's bank accounts in Italy and Monaco, claiming it is the proceeds of tax fraud.

Since the yacht has been impounded by the Italian police for some time now, Briatore had to find a new home for his wife Elisabetta and his youngest son Falco, and that seems to be the coastal resort Lion in the Sun in Kenya.