By European authorities have dismantled a sprawling criminal enterprise involving tax fraud, money laundering, and Italian mafia connections, arresting 43 people and seizing assets worth 520 million euros ($547 million) in a coordinated international operation, officials announced Thursday.
The investigation, led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), uncovered an elaborate scheme involving approximately 400 companies across Europe trading IT products and electronic devices. The operation implicated around 200 suspects, primarily based in Italy but extending through several European countries and reaching into the United Arab Emirates.
Prosecutors revealed the operation exposed deep connections between white-collar crime and traditional organized crime, with evidence showing the Naples-based Camorra and Sicilian Cosa Nostra invested profits from Value Added Tax (VAT) fraud into their criminal enterprises.
European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi emphasized the growing convergence of organized crime and financial fraud. “It has been a while since we started to ring the alarm bell about dangerous organised crime groups’ heavy involvement in fraud to the EU budget,” she said. “There is no division between the world of the really bad and dangerous criminals smuggling drugs, trafficking people on one side; and the world of white-collar criminals, ‘merely’ corrupting and laundering money, on the other side.”
The operation’s scope was unprecedented, with 34 suspects remanded to prison custody, nine placed under house arrest, and four others banned from conducting business activities. Arrests spanned multiple countries, including the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Spain, and Bulgaria.
Italy’s Guardia di Finanza police uncovered false invoices totaling 1.3 billion euros between 2020 and 2023. The investigation’s asset seizures included luxury real estate properties along the Sicilian and Ligurian Rivieras, Lake Como, and in Milan.
Law enforcement conducted more than 160 searches across Italy, with additional operations in Spain, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the Netherlands. The investigation extended beyond the European Union’s borders into Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
The operation reflects a growing trend identified by Italian investigators, who have documented organized crime’s increasing sophistication in infiltrating legitimate business sectors and white-collar crime schemes, viewing them as lower-risk alternatives to traditional criminal activities.
Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti praised the operation’s success on social media platform X, commending the coordinated efforts of police authorities and prosecutors.
The case marks one of the largest financial crime investigations conducted by European authorities, highlighting the evolving nature of organized crime and its deep penetration into Europe’s financial systems. The EPPO indicated this operation might be the first of several major cases targeting the intersection of traditional organized crime and sophisticated financial fraud schemes threatening the EU’s financial interests.
