Bari financial police carry out four measures in usury and extortion inquiry

The Guardia di Finanza in Bari carried out four precautionary measures in an investigation by the Procura di Trani into alleged usury and extortion. A preliminary investigation judge at the Tribunale di Trani ordered three people held in custody and a fourth placed under house arrest, according to the report.

Investigators allege a system of loans carrying annual interest rates of up to 1,260%, including loans to people with gambling problems who used the money to play slot machines and VLTs. The loans to people with gambling problems were of a few hundred euros and were then put back into slot machines and VLTs in commercial premises run by the same alleged lenders, according to the investigative hypothesis.

The investigation, conducted by the Nucleo di Polizia economico-finanziaria di Bari, is said to have reconstructed a network of usurious loans run by three people, the report said. Small entrepreneurs and artisans in financial difficulty were also allegedly involved and were forced to turn to illegal financing channels, with loans ranging from €1,000 to €80,000 and interest rates of between 60% and 1,260% a year.

According to the report, the suspects allegedly used threats and violence to obtain repayment. The investigation is also said to have uncovered alleged money laundering and fraudulent transfer of assets: one of the main suspects, already subject to an anti-mafia asset prevention measure, allegedly registered properties and shares in three companies in the names of people close to him while continuing to manage them in practice.

Seizures of movable and immovable assets and financial holdings worth more than €700,000 are under way, along with the shares of the companies involved. A total of 14 people are under investigation on various counts, for alleged offences including usury, extortion, money laundering, self-laundering, fraudulent transfer of assets, unauthorised financial activity and aiding and abetting.

The report said the operation points to a possible link between gambling addiction, financial difficulty and usury, with the investigative hypothesis being that money lent to people with gambling problems was used to keep playing. The case is at the preliminary investigation stage; the allegations are provisional and the responsibility of the suspects must be established in later stages of the proceedings, in accordance with the presumption of innocence, the report said.