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Daily Mail/Nick Pisa - 21st May 2010
Flavio Briatore's £15m yacht seized in fraud probe after police chase along the Italian coast
Millionaire Flavio Briatore's wife had a rude awakening today as police seized the couple's £15million yacht in a fraud probe.
Officers on high-speed boats 'pursued' the 60-metre yacht Force Blue for several miles this morning.
They finally boarded it when it anchored off the port of La Spezia near Genoa and was boarded.
Seized: The 60m Force Blue was taken over by Italian police this morning
Former TV star Elisabetta Gregoraci, who at 28 is 30 years younger than Briatore, was on board the yacht with the couple's son, Falcon Nathan, aged two months, when officers arrived just after dawn.
Briatore does not appear to have been on board at the time.
They had authority from a local prosecutor who ordered the boat to be impounded as part of the probe which centres on its status as a yacht available for charter.
Prosecutors believe the glamorous pair may be gaining massive tax breaks by declaring their boat was for hire... then living on it themselves
Briatore claims that the yacht is available for hire at £240,000 a week and as result is registered out of the European Union, in the Cayman Islands, entitling him to a favourable tax break, according to Genoa prosecutors.
But prosecutor Walter Cotugno is looking into claims that there is no evidence of it being chartered - and that Briatore and his wife spend a large part of the year living on board.
Last week it was moored off Monte Carlo for the Formula One Grand Prix. Every summer Briatore and his wife are regularly seen hosting lavish parties as they cruise the Mediterranean.
A police spokesman said more details of the investigation into the 'contraband use' of Force Blue would be given at a press conference.
Briatore purchased the Force Blue in 2002. It has a crew of 17 and can comfortably sleep 12 passengers in luxury-fitted cabins.
It comes with state of the art entertainment, leather furniture and spa facilities.
Last year Briatore, who was director of Formula One team Renault, was found guilty of ordering driver Nelson Piquet Jr to deliberately crash his car in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
In what was dubbed 'Crash-gate', Formula One chiefs initially banned Briatore for life - but this ruling was overturned by a court in Paris and he is now banned until 2013 after lawyers agreed a deal.
Briatore wed Gregoraci in a 12th century basilica in the Italian capital in June 2008 after a two-year courtship.
He already has a daughter Leni, four, by supermodel Heidi Klum, although he is not believed to play an active part in her life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnew....aud-probe.h tml
« Last Edit: May 21, 2010, 12:04pm by QPR Report » Link to Post - Back to Top Logged
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Daily Mail/Nick Pisa - 21st May 2010
Flavio Briatore's £15m yacht seized in fraud probe after police chase along the Italian coast
Millionaire Flavio Briatore's wife had a rude awakening today as police seized the couple's £15million yacht in a fraud probe.
Officers on high-speed boats 'pursued' the 60-metre yacht Force Blue for several miles this morning.
They finally boarded it when it anchored off the port of La Spezia near Genoa and was boarded.
Seized: The 60m Force Blue was taken over by Italian police this morning
Former TV star Elisabetta Gregoraci, who at 28 is 30 years younger than Briatore, was on board the yacht with the couple's son, Falcon Nathan, aged two months, when officers arrived just after dawn.
Briatore does not appear to have been on board at the time.
They had authority from a local prosecutor who ordered the boat to be impounded as part of the probe which centres on its status as a yacht available for charter.
Prosecutors believe the glamorous pair may be gaining massive tax breaks by declaring their boat was for hire... then living on it themselves
Briatore claims that the yacht is available for hire at £240,000 a week and as result is registered out of the European Union, in the Cayman Islands, entitling him to a favourable tax break, according to Genoa prosecutors.
But prosecutor Walter Cotugno is looking into claims that there is no evidence of it being chartered - and that Briatore and his wife spend a large part of the year living on board.
Last week it was moored off Monte Carlo for the Formula One Grand Prix. Every summer Briatore and his wife are regularly seen hosting lavish parties as they cruise the Mediterranean.
A police spokesman said more details of the investigation into the 'contraband use' of Force Blue would be given at a press conference.
Briatore purchased the Force Blue in 2002. It has a crew of 17 and can comfortably sleep 12 passengers in luxury-fitted cabins.
It comes with state of the art entertainment, leather furniture and spa facilities.
Last year Briatore, who was director of Formula One team Renault, was found guilty of ordering driver Nelson Piquet Jr to deliberately crash his car in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
In what was dubbed 'Crash-gate', Formula One chiefs initially banned Briatore for life - but this ruling was overturned by a court in Paris and he is now banned until 2013 after lawyers agreed a deal.
Briatore wed Gregoraci in a 12th century basilica in the Italian capital in June 2008 after a two-year courtship.
He already has a daughter Leni, four, by supermodel Heidi Klum, although he is not believed to play an active part in her life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnew....aud-probe.h tml
« Last Edit: May 21, 2010, 12:04pm by QPR Report » Link to Post - Back to Top Logged
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