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European police have arrested 22 people and seized assets worth more than 600 million euros ($650 million) in connection with suspected fraud related to the European Union's post-pandemic recovery fund, Italian media reported.
Following an investigation by the EU prosecutor, eight people were detained, 14 were placed under house arrest and two others were banned from practicing their profession. The arrests were made in Italy, Austria, Romania and Slovakia.
Italian financial police said they seized Lamborghinis, Porsches, Rolexes, Cartier jewelry, cryptocurrencies, luxury villas and other items during dozens of raids on homes and offices.
The case raises concerns about the misuse of the EU's 800 billion euro recovery fund to help revive the bloc's economy. Italy was the biggest beneficiary of the fund, with grants of more than 194 billion euros.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said a criminal organization allegedly ran a fraud scheme between 2021 and 2023 to defraud Italy of recovery packages.
In 2021, the group applied to receive non-refundable grants, the EPPO said, ostensibly to support small and medium-sized companies, but later prepared false balance sheets "to show that the companies were active and profitable, when in fact they were inactive, fictitious company.”
After receiving around 600 million euros in funding from the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the group then transferred the funds to their bank accounts in Austria, Romania and Slovakia, the EPPO said.
The prosecutor's office alleged that the group used cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence and offshore cloud servers to carry out and conceal the fraud.
The United States has also tried to crack down on alleged fraud involving Covid-19 aid resources. A federal watchdog warned in June that the Small Business Administration distributed more than $200 billion in potentially fraudulent funds after the pandemic.
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