Italian financial police have seized the majority shares of Hellas Verona president Maurizio Setti as the club president is under investigation for bankruptcy. Chaos has erupted at the club as the Guardia di Finanza confirmed in a statement that Setti’s majority stakes in the club have been temporarily seized as the investigation continues.
News broke earlier today that the Bologna Prosecutor is looking into the bankruptcy of a company connected to Setti and Star Ball Srl, Verona’s holding company which owns a 100% stake in the club.
Hellas Verona have responded with a statement to the Italian press regarding the seizure shares, saying:
“It is considered appropriate to clarify, the seizure does not concern the assets of Hellas Verona F.C. s.p.a. (‘HV’), which are not affected. The seizure is part of yet another judicial skirmish in the dispute between Maurizio Setti’s corporate group and Gabriele Volpi’s corporate group.
The shares in HV owned by Star Ball s.r.l., a company (owned by Maurizio Setti) that had acquired them from HV7 s.p.a., which in turn had acquired them from H23 s.p.a., were seized. In 2020, the companies HV7 and H23 (traceable to Maurizio Setti) were declared bankrupt by the Court of Bologna at the request of the Volpi Group, which is the only entity claiming to be their creditor. There are no other substantial creditors of HV7 and H23. Both bankruptcies were revoked by the Bologna Court of Appeal. The revocation of HV7’s bankruptcy was finally declared by the Court of Cassation in Decision No. 29773/2023 of 26.10.2023. The Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of the Bologna Court of Appeal, noting that the Volpi Group had not proved that it was a creditor of HV7.
HV7 – from which Star Ball s.r.l. acquired the shares in HV – is, therefore, back in operation and in business. The confirmation or revocation of H23’s bankruptcy is, however, still pending before the Court of Cassation. The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bologna – alarmed by press reports (which were, moreover, completely unfounded) about the possible sale by Star Ball s.r.l. of its shareholdings in HV – deemed it appropriate, at the request of the Volpi Group’s lawyers, to seize them as a precautionary measure. It did so only in the event that, in the future, the bankruptcy of H23 should be definitively declared and the lawfulness of the sale of the shareholdings made in the past by H23 s.p.a. should then be discussed.
Already in the past, the Volpi Group had tried, unsuccessfully, to use the criminal instrument of preventive seizure to attack Maurizio Setti and Star Ball s.r.l., who then saw their reasons fully recognised by the Court of Cassation and then by the Court of Re-examination of Bologna, which cancelled the seizure of Setti’s and Star Ball’s assets. The related proceedings, which had a wide media resonance, ended in nothing and were dismissed by the GIP at the request of the same Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Maurizio Setti and Star Ball s.r.l. are serene and calm, because they are convinced that they will be able to demonstrate, also on this occasion, the correctness, legitimacy and lawfulness of their actions and the lack of the prerequisites for the seizure. They have, therefore, mandated their lawyers to act immediately to challenge the preventive seizure.”
