Privilege Yachts CEO Arrested Over Charges of Fraud

According to Italian newspaper, La Nazione, the former CEO of Privilege Yachts, Mario La Via, is now under house arrest as part of an investigation into the collapse of the Italian yard last year. Finance director Antonio Battista has also been arrested.

According to another Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, both men are accused of defrauding company funds to buy luxury cars worth over €300,000, and the company’s property portfolio worth over €25 million has also been seized by the authorities.  

As well as charges of fraud, unpaid tax and violation of anti-mafia legislation, La Via is accused of concealing the company’s bankruptcy when he applied for a €100 million bank loan to fund the construction of 126m Privilege One back in 2008, just two years after the company was founded.

The project came to a halt in 2012 when one of the banks pulled out, but La Via subsequently claimed he had secured additional funding and would launch Privilege One before the end of 2014. The company finally filed for bankruptcy in 2015 with debts in excess of €200 million. Privilege One remains uncompleted and the case continues. 

VIDEO: Privilege Yachts HQ in Rome