Catania: Million-dollar scam, beach resort managed by criminal clan seized

On October 8, at the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office, the military personnel of the Investigative Unit of the Provincial Carabinieri Command of Catania carried out a "Preventive Seizure Decree” of patrimonial assets, issued by the Court of Catania – Office of the Judge for Preliminary Investigations, against SP, convicted 62enne nissen, GMS, prejudiced 51enne catanese and ALC, 28enne catanese (the latter combined with prominent elements of the “HAT” clan), who were also notified of the notices of the conclusion of the preliminary investigations for the crimes in competition of "fraud" and "ideological falsehood committed by a Public Official in public documents" (the last crime charged only to the two women).

Yesterday's activity, coordinated by the Catania Public Prosecutor's Office and conducted, between April 2022 and August 2024, by the Investigative Unit of Catania - Prevention Measures and Economic Crime Section, through both traditional technical investigation methods (such as, for example, flattening and shadowing services), in a stage of the proceedings in which the adversarial process between the parties has not yet taken place, would have revealed a complex criminal plan, thanks to which the defendants, with a series of fraudulent conducts, would have managed to to take over the management, for a full 2 ​​years, of a well-known beach on the Catania coast.

A well thought out and tested plan, with a clear division of tasks and roles, according to which man, in first phase of the scam, started in 2021, was supposed to take care of the initial negotiations with the company that owns the beach resort, the “Miami Lounge Beach Bar”, with the aim of convincing him to sign a rental agreement in his favor.

And in fact, from the investigative findings, it would have emerged as SP, pretending to be the legal representative of a Swiss company – actually existing and operating in the Canton of Ticino but totally unaware of the entire affair – had started negotiations with the representative of the owner of the beach/restaurant, exhibiting during the numerous meetings a whole series of false documents and proxies, never produced or issued by the Swiss group. In this context, the offer for the award of the management of the commercial activity would have been particularly “tempting”, providing for the payment of 135.000 € per year for the first two years, 140.000 € for the third and fourth year and 150.000 € for the fifth and sixth.

During the negotiation, the administrator of the company owning the beach, well disposed by the documentation, false, which had been provided to him, convinced of the goodness of the proposal, he had nevertheless requested a "guarantee policy" to guarantee future payments of the rent. Even in this case, the bank document provided would have turned out to be completely false.

At the end of the negotiations, which lasted over a year, in the month of March 2022, the administrator of the Catania company had therefore decided to sign the contract and to rent the beach, with the attached restaurant. From this moment on, in the second part of the scam, the two women, who had initially withdrawn, would have "come into play" to deal with the concrete management and promotion of the commercial activity, in view of the 2022 bathing season. In order to publicize the opening of the beach, a website would have been created, which would have reported the telephone number of ALC, which would have had the task of personally organizing the reservations and maintaining contacts in the name and on behalf of the company.

The two women, however, would not have never paid the rent fee agreed with the property, which is why they had been summoned to court before the Civil Court of Catania, to clarify their position of non-compliance. Even in this circumstance, as proof of their criminal attitude, the defendants would not have had any qualms about producing, during the civil trial, additional false documents, with the aim of also misleading the Judicial Authority, leading it to believe that the economic situation of their company was very solid and that, therefore, the two were in possession of the bank funds necessary to pay off the debt.

The complex investigations were carried out by the specialized Carabinieri of the Prevention Measures and Economic Crime Section of the Investigative Unit of Catania, who thoroughly examined the complete economic situation of the suspects, analyzing thousands of pages and documents regarding bank transactions, current accounts, contacts with suppliers, arriving at the conclusion that the commercial activity had been carried out by them. illegally acquired.

Today's seizure represents the culmination of delicate and complex investigations, through which it has been possible to shed light on the management of an illicitly acquired and managed commercial activity, worth approximately 3 million euros which, following the provision, was entrusted in judicial custody to the administrator identified by the Court.

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