The brothers Lucia Aleotti and Alberto Giovanni Aleotti, sons of patron Sergio Aleotti, were acquitted in the Menarini trial where they were accused of money laundering. This was decided by the court of appeal of Florence which ordered the return to the Aleottis of all the sums seized for confiscation purposes in the investigation: at the beginning they were 1.2 billion euros of which today, with all the tax pending closed, the residual about 700 million euros. In the first instance Lucia and Giovanni Aleotti were sentenced respectively to 10 and a half years for money laundering and corruption and to 7 and a half years for money laundering
Lucia Aleotti was acquitted by the Florence court of appeal 'for not having committed the crime' with respect to the accusation of laundering sums of money deriving from fraudulent declarations and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions, as well as having instrumentally set up and capitalised, for money laundering purposes, the Nipote and Nipote bis foundations. Furthermore, Lucia Aleotti was always acquitted 'because the fact does not exist' with regard to joining the tax shield, for money laundering, through the same foundations. His brother Giovanni Alberto Aleotti was acquitted of the charge of money laundering 'because the fact does not exist' also with respect to the charge of having participated in predicate crimes of tax evasion. 
Acquitted, like his sister, of the charge of having set up the Nipote and Nipote bis foundations for money laundering purposes, as well as of the charge of having used the tax shield as a money laundering tool.
The appeals court rejected the appeal of the prosecutors regarding the accusation of money laundering proceeds of continued fraud and the appeals of the civil parties. In the first instance, Lucia Aleotti was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months and her brother Giovanni Alberto to 7 years and 6 months. The first instance sentence was confirmed in the other parts, therefore Massimiliana Landini, and the managers Licia Proietti and Sandro Casini remain acquitted. Reasons in 90 days. “We are delighted with this decision by the Florence Court of Appeal which acquitted Lucia Aleotti and Alberto Giovanni Aleotti of all charges. Many years have passed since the beginning of this painful affair, but the Judge has finally recognized the non-involvement of the Menarini shareholders in the facts for which they were unjustly accused.
Now Lucia and Alberto Giovanni Aleotti will be able to continue to devote themselves to the growth of the Menarini Group which has more than 17,000 employees and which, although not directly involved in the process, has certainly suffered setbacks and serious damage to its image, also at an international level, due to cause of this investigation. This is what can be read in a note from Menarini. Colombini, Menarini board of directors: "Prices have not been inflated" "We welcomed with satisfaction the decision of the Florence court of appeal which, in line with what has already been decided by the court of first instance, recognized the complete non-existence of the fraud hypothesis against the National Health Service.
It was therefore once again confirmed that the prices of Menarini drugs have never been "inflated", thus acknowledging the company's total correctness in its actions". This was stated in a note by Carlo Colombini, director of the Menarini Group. The lawyer: “Full victory, full acquittals” “Full victory, full acquittals. The defensive requests have been fully accepted. Thus the lawyer Alessandro Traversi, defender of the Aleottis in the Menarini trial together with Franco Coppi and Roberto Cordeiro Guerra, comments on the sentence of the Florence court of appeal.
"For Lucia Aleotti double formula of acquittal - says Traversi after reading the exposition - for some episodes for not having committed the crime, as we had requested, for other episodes because the disputed facts do not exist, therefore the broader formula " . "Brother Giovanni Alberto - continues Traversi - was declared not punishable for complicity in the tax crime, therefore it is an acquittal for him too". Lucia Aleotti and Giovanni Alberto Aleotti followed all the appeal hearings and were present again this morning at the reopening of the trial, but then decided not to be present at the reading of the sentence.
"The emotion was great and they preferred it that way, we notified them via cell phone," said the defender. Then the lawyer Traversi allows himself a quote from the centenary of the victory in the First World War: "Our dialectical adversaries go up the valleys from which they descended with proud confidence".
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