With the release of the Panama Papers earlier this month, everyone from UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron to footballer Lionel Messi has been caught up in accusations of tax evasion. And with 11.5 million documents leaked, the list of global millionaires allegedly hiding assets in offshore accounts has grown larger by the day. The fashion industry is no stranger to tax fraud—within the past few years Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Miuccia Prada, and Karl Lagerfeld have all been investigated for potentially criminal activity—and now it seems there are some new names to add to that list. The Panama Papers named London-based designer Roksanda Ilincic; Rattan Chadha, founder and former chief executive officer of Mexx; media mogul David Geffen; Mohan Lal Lohia, chairman of textile firm Indorama Corp; and Valentino Garavani and his business partner Giancarlo Giammetti.
This isn’t the first time Valentino has been suspected of tax evasion. Between 2000 and 2006 he and Giammetti were investigated before the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. According to Italy’s weekly L’Espresso who first reported the names, the documents, which include names of clients of the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, state that the firm managed transactions for the two. They report that Giammetti’s offshore company, Jarra Overseas SA, has been registered in the British Virgin Islands since 2004. A company started on the same day, Paramour Finance Ltd. was closed in 2013, but may be directly connected with Valentino as both offshore companies were reportedly points of interest in the original 2000 investigation.
At the moment no charges have been brought against either party and representation for Valentino has declined to comment.
