Cannavaro assets seized in tax fraud probe

​Italy legend Fabio Cannavaro has had €900,000 of his assets seized in relation to a tax fraud investigation.

Police in Naples carried out an order for the seizure of the 2006 World Cup winner’s property on Wednesday in connection to a tax fraud scheme that the 41-year-old and his wife Daniela Arenoso are alleged to have used to avoid paying over €1million in tax.

The charges surround their luxury yacht chartering company FD Service SRL, with prosecutors in Naples deeming that three yachts listed as available for rent were actually solely for the couple’s private use and they should therefore have declared them as taxable assets.

Instead, the couple are alleged to have used the tax breaks from which companies benefit to forego regional company tax, state corporate income tax and VAT between 2005 and 2010.

A press release from the state attorney’s office in Naples read: “This morning [Wednesday] officers from the Provincial Command of the Tributary Police of Naples, executing the cautionary seizure order released from the Preliminary Inquiry Judge of the Naples Tribunal, on indications coming from the State Attorney’s office – Third Section, have seized assets for around 900,000 euros belonging to Fabio Cannavaro.

“The seizure was ordered in relation to a massive tax fraud scheme, centred on FD Service S.r.l., a luxury yacht chartering company that the former footballer managed with his wife Daniela Arenoso.

“The tax elusion scheme was discovered by the Naples Customs and Revenue Office during a targeted fiscal inquiry. This inquiry discovered the fictitious nature of the above enterprise, given that the three yachts owned by the FD Service company (yacht model Pershing 62 named “Massivus”, yacht model Pershing 76 named “Chriman Naples”, yacht model Pershing 72 named “Chriman II”) were used by the Cannavaro-Arenoso couple for recreation, instead of being actually chartered.

“At the end of the above inquiry, the authorities have verified – in relation to the 2005-2010 period – a direct imposition evasion (regional company tax and state corporate income tax) and indirect (VAT) taxation for a total value of more than one million euros.”

In addition to Cannavaro and his wife, Eugenio Tuccillo – labelled by prosecutors as a person of “meagre means” – is also under investigation.

Tuccillo took over FD Service and placed the firm into liquidation shortly after the opening of the probe.

Cannavaro enjoyed a highly successful playing career with the likes of Inter, Juventus and Real Madrid, which was capped when he led his country to a fourth world title in Germany in 2006.