Nicola Borrelli, the longtime head of the movie division at Italy’s Ministry of Tradition, has resigned amid an escalating scandal involving a $1 million tax credit score awarded to a movie that was by no means produced, for a producer now accused of a double homicide.
Borrelli stepped down late Wednesday, simply days after Italian Tradition Minister Alessandro Giuli personally escorted legislation enforcement officers into the ministry’s workplaces to grab paperwork associated to the case. The scandal facilities on Stelle della Notte, a characteristic movie venture that obtained €863,595 (circa $1 million) in manufacturing tax credit in 2020 by means of a program overseen by Borrelli’s division. Regardless of the funding, the movie was by no means made.
The applying for the tax credit score was submitted by Tintagel Movies, an organization fronted by 46-year-old U.S. citizen Charles Francis Kaufmann, who operated below the alias Rexal Ford. Tintagel Movies partnered with the Italian firm Coevolutions, which had management of the funds, disbursed in November 2023.
Kaufmann was arrested final month on the Greek island of Skiathos in a joint operation involving Italian, Greek, and U.S. authorities. He’s accused of the double homicide of his accomplice Anastasia Trofimova and their toddler daughter Andromeda, whose our bodies had been found in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park. Kaufmann, who denies the costs, is at the moment awaiting extradition to Italy.
Italian information outlet Open revealed that Coevolutions has obtained roughly €4 million ($4.7 million) in tax credit for 13 movies lately, solely considered one of which has been accomplished. The Ministry of Tradition has not indicated whether or not the Stelle della Notte funds had been misappropriated or granted below deceptive pretenses, however officers have launched an inside evaluate of the procedures used to approve the credit score.
Throughout a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Minister Giuli introduced stricter oversight measures for Italy’s tax credit score system, stating that current regulatory reforms ought to forestall related abuses. He additionally emphasised that any monetary misconduct uncovered within the investigation would carry penalties.
Borrelli, who had led the movie division since 2009, defended the legitimacy of the documentation submitted for Stelle della Notte, noting that he had repeatedly known as for tighter rules on tax credit score approvals. In recent times, he submitted a number of formal experiences to the judiciary and monetary police concerning the dangers of fraud inside the current system.
Whereas the scandal has intensified scrutiny of incentives for native productions, the 40 p.c tax rebate program for worldwide movie and tv shoots in Italy stays unaffected. Borrelli, talking in Might at a panel in Cannes, had touted the nation’s incentive for international productions as some of the accessible in Europe, highlighting that 70 p.c of the credit score might be utilized throughout filming.
Present worldwide tasks taking pictures in Italy embody Maserati: The Brothers, directed by Bobby Moresco and starring Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, and Jessica Alba; Ridley Scott’s The Canine Stars that includes Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin; and Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints. Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection of the Christ is scheduled to start filming at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios in August.
The Ministry of Tradition has not but named a successor to Borrelli. The investigation into the tax credit score disbursement and the circumstances surrounding Kaufmann’s arrest is ongoing.