Usury, money laundering and company shares held by nominees: precautionary measures by the Trani Public Prosecutor's Office and the Bari Financial Police

In short: on 20 October 2026 the Bari Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) executed an order issued by the GIP of Trani, at the request of the Trani Public Prosecutor's Office (Procura di Trani), imposing 4 personal precautionary measures and seizures for over €700,000, including the shares of three companies. The alleged offences include usury, extortion, money laundering and fraudulent transfer of assets. According to the approach accepted by the GIP, real estate and the shares of three companies (one in construction, two in the motor vehicle trade) were allegedly registered in the names of people close to a suspect, who allegedly kept de facto control of them. For those carrying out customer due diligence, this is a concrete reminder: the formal shareholder does not always coincide with the person who actually decides.

What happened?

The GIP at the Trani Court issued an order for personal precautionary measures against 4 individuals (3 in prison and 1 under house arrest) for usury, extortion, money laundering, self-laundering, fraudulent transfer of assets and unauthorised financial activity. The order was executed by officers of the Bari Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza. Real precautionary measures and urgent preventive seizures of movable and immovable assets and financial holdings worth over €700,000 are also in progress; these are identified as the proceeds of the alleged offences, together with the shares of the three companies concerned.

In total, 14 people are under investigation, on various charges; 4 of them are accused of aiding and abetting, for having helped one of the loan sharks evade the investigation. The press release specifies that the proceedings are at the preliminary investigation stage, that the evidence gathered is provisional in nature and that the measure does not establish liability: no one can be considered guilty until a final judgment or an irrevocable criminal penalty order.

What does the investigation describe, as alleged?

Bank and asset investigations allegedly reconstructed a network of usurious loans made by 3 individuals, including through intimidation and extortion, to two categories of victims:

Victims	Loans and terms stated in the press release
Individuals, often with a gambling dependence	A few hundred euros, allegedly reinvested in legal gambling (VLTs and slot machines) at gaming points inside commercial premises run by the same loan sharks
Small entrepreneurs and craftspeople in financial difficulty, with no further access to traditional credit channels	Amounts from 1,000 up to 80,000 euros, with interest rates varying between 60% and 1,260% per year

To recover the sums, according to the press release, the loan sharks allegedly threatened and slapped an entrepreneur and forced another victim to sign a preliminary sales agreement for their home in favour of a nominee, stating that part of the price had already been paid separately, without specifying the financial channels used.

What role do nominees play in companies?

According to the approach accepted by the GIP, and subject to assessment in the later stages with the input of the defence, one of the main suspects, already subject to an anti-mafia asset prevention measure, allegedly registered real estate and the shares of three companies (one active in construction, two in the motor vehicle trade) in the names of people close to him, while keeping de facto control of them.

This gives rise to further charges:

• against the nominee shareholders, who allegedly knowingly agreed to put money from crimes into the companies;
• against the main suspect, for self-laundering linked to the reinvestment of the same funds;
• against the three companies, for administrative liability for an offence under Article 25-octies of Legislative Decree 231/2001 (D.Lgs. 231/2001: receiving stolen goods, money laundering and use of money, goods or benefits of unlawful origin), as stated in the press release.

Why does it matter for customer due diligence?

The press release does not mention professionals or anti-money laundering obligations, and we draw no conclusions on that point. The mechanism described, however, is exactly what the beneficial owner check is meant to uncover: operating companies, with formally clean shareholders, actually traceable to a person other than the one shown in the Business Register (Registro Imprese). These are signals to be assessed together, never proof on their own:

• companies in sectors with a high turnover of cash or high-value goods (construction, motor vehicle trade) whose formal shareholders have a financial profile inconsistent with the business;
• a de facto administrator who is not the shareholder, for example someone who negotiates with you, signs or gives instructions without holding any office;
• transfers of property or shares at prices where part of the payment is made outside the deed and the financial channels are not specified.

What to do if you have clients or suppliers with this profile

• Reconstruct who owns and administers the company, not just who appears as a shareholder: offices, shareholdings and the chain of control, with source and date.
• Check that the profile is consistent with the activity: the economic capacity of the shareholders relative to the capital and to the transactions the company carries out.
• Document the risk assessment if nominees, payments partly made outside the deed or financing of unclear origin emerge.

The first step is knowing who is on the other side. The beneficial owner (€9.90) reconstructs from the Business Register the people holding office or a significant stake; with beneficial owner plus protests and insolvency proceedings (€14.90) you also see the negative records. If the company is your client, the customer due diligence file (€49) puts the checklist, the beneficial owner and the report in a single PDF.

Sources

• Guardia di Finanza, «Usury, extortion, money laundering and fraudulent transfer of assets», press release of 20 October 2026, read on 25/10/2026