MILAN — Guccio Gucci has been accused of fraudulent bankruptcy and is under house arrest. The Florentine entrepreneur is the great-grandson of Guccio Gucci, who founded the Gucci company in 1921.
The charges are connected to the handbags venture under the label To Be G, first launched in 2008 by Guccio Gucci.
According to the Florence Guardia di Finanza, an Italian police force under the authority of the national minister of economy and finance, the arrest was made as part of the Bags Queen operation. Guccio Gucci is charged with bankruptcy for 800,000 euros, or $1 million at current exchange, and fraudulent tax evasion of 400,000 euros, or $515,828. To Be G was controlled by Esperienza Srl, founded by the accused in Scandicci, near Florence. The company went bankrupt in December 2013, and the police are accusing Gucci of diverting assets from the firm for a total of 800,000 euros.
As per the investigations carried through by prosecutor Christine von Borries, Gucci nominated a figurehead and transferred assets to a new company based in Perugia, Italy, which they continued to manage, evading the payment of taxes for 400,000 euros. At the end of 2013, the police confiscated assets for that same amount.
Before launching To Be G, Gucci spent 12 years at the family’s namesake fashion brand, where he coordinated development of product and research of hides, until the company was sold to Investcorp in 1989. After working in the textile industry for almost a decade, he went on to help his father, Giorgio, on the GiorgioG handbag line. In 2005, the designer founded Esperienza Srl. The company also produced for a number of international brands.