Easter Egg Scandal and Pandoro Case: Decision Made in Chiara Ferragni Case

The Italian Antitrust Authority has concluded investigations into a well-known Italian influencer and the Easter egg scandal, as well as the Pandoro case from last year involving her companies.

According to the body, Chiara will pay 1.2 million euros to the charity “I Bambini delle Fate” over three years. All the companies involved in this fraud scheme seemed willing to pay the amount of liability imposed by Antitrust.

At the same time, this body will verify the full and correct implementation of the commitments by Chiara Ferragni’s companies and in the event of non-compliance, in addition to reopening the proceedings, an administrative sanction of up to 10 million euros will be applied and, if the situation is repeated, it may lead to the closure of the business for a period of no more than 30 days.

Chiara Ferragni herself responded publicly in a statement on the company’s official profile. She states that:

“In response to the initiative of the Office for Competition and the Market, which initiated proceedings in the case “Easter eggs / Chiara Ferragni”, the companies TBS Crew Srl and Fenice Srl announce that the Office has closed its investigation by accepting the commitments proposed by the companies and other parties involved in the proceedings, because they consider them appropriate to guarantee consumer protection.

As a sign of response and encouragement to charitable activities, the companies involved in the process commit to an economic aspect, consisting of payments to the charitable association “I Bambini delle Fate”, for a period of three years. The corresponding distributed profits, with a total minimum value of 1,200,000 euros, will be distributed over a period of three years.

With regard to charitable initiatives, companies have decided to clearly separate commercial and charitable activities, committing to refrain from conducting operations in which commercial activities are linked to charitable activities.

Finally, companies have committed to adopting their own internal regulations regarding communication and marketing activities, also inspired by best practices in this field. Other protective measures will then be introduced to ensure their implementation, as well as the organization of periodic training for the company’s employees.

How did Chiara Ferragani end up being accused?

Easter Egg Scandal and Pandoro Case: Decision Made in Chiara's Case

PHOTO: IPA-AGENCY.NET

The story came to light in December, when some facts about a charity scam between Chiara and the company “Balocco” appeared in the Italian media. As it was claimed at the beginning of the campaign, panettones were to be sold at the market for 9 euros (while the normal price did not exceed 5 euros) and from the sale of each dessert a part was to be donated to a hospital in Turin. When the scandal was revealed, the Italian authorities for economic and financial crime discovered that the company “Balocco” had actually made only one transaction for the amount of 50,000 euros to the hospital account. This happened a month before the campaign of cooperation between Chiara and the confectionery company began.