(In a sharp, cheeky tone, a la Jimmy Carr, Rowan Atkinson, Ricky Gervais, and Lee Evans)
Ah, the Italians and their love of beauty treatments! Who wouldn’t want to look good, especially when it’s someone else’s money being used to fund the Botox and facelifts? (chuckles)
Welcome to the story of “Body Care,” a beauty center in Florence that was less about providing a relaxing facial and more about giving its clients a financial facelift… straight into debt! ( Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean-esque face contortion)
It seems the owner, LB, a spry 67-year-old, had a few too many tricks up his sleeve. He convinced his well-heeled clients to take out loans to secure a suite of aesthetic treatments, which, of course, would be repaid through a series of installments. Ah, but here’s the thing, mes amis! LB had no intention of actually providing those treatments. It was all just a clever ruse to get his hands on the dosh. (Ricky Gervais’s incredulous tone) I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?
Fast forward to 2019, when Body Care went bust, leaving its clients high and dry… and with a bunch of unpaid loans to their names. Ouch! Talk about a beauty disaster! ( Lee Evans’s mocking laughter) But wait, it gets better (or worse, depending on your perspective). Some of these poor women received “return” requests from financial companies, asking them to cough up the cash… for debts they thought were long gone, paid off through the very beauty treatments they never received! Ah, the joke’s on them, I suppose! (drolly, à la Jimmy Carr)
Now, LB has pleaded guilty to a string of financial crimes, including asset diversion, tax evasion, and good old-fashioned fraud. He’s been handed a two-year, two-month sentence, which, let’s be real, is barely a slap on the wrist considering the damage he’s done. And what about the two other defendants, NB and CM, who were allegedly in on the scheme? They’ll be facing trial next year, no doubt with a similar outcome. (sarcastically) Oh, I’m sure they’ll be quaking in their boots.
The cherry on this sundae of deceit is that the clients have managed to get some of their loans confiscated, which is some small comfort, I suppose. But really, what’s the takeaway from this sordid tale? That, folks, is the classic Italian story of Bella Figura… until someone gets caught, that is. (winking)
Here is the rewritten article:
Florence, 27 November 2024 – Loans for aesthetic finance treatments turned out to be a massive fraud, leaving numerous women from affluent areas of Florence with substantial debt instead of the massages and beauty treatments they were promised.
The first verdict has arrived in the “Body Care” case, a high-end beauty center located in via Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, which abruptly shut down, leaving several loyal clients with significant financial burdens: the 67-year-old owner, LB, negotiated a plea deal with Judge Anna Liguori, resulting in a two-year and two-month sentence.
LB was accused of multiple fraud crimes, including insolvency and fraudulent bankruptcy, which affected the company managing the beauty center. Two other defendants, employees of the center, were also indicted by the preliminary hearing judge and will face trial next November. The plea bargaining agreement ruled out compensation for the victims in the criminal case, but many former clients will pursue civil action.
Lawyers Giovanni Conticelli, Marco Gaspari, and Serena Mugnaini obtained the confiscation of the loans taken out by Body Care clients, who were led to believe they were securing policies for aesthetic treatments. At least the economic damage has been limited.
However, the damage extends beyond financial losses, as the relationship between clients and beauty consultants was built on trust, which was severely compromised. The accused LB managed the business from 2014 to 2019, during which time the company allegedly proposed financing options to clients to secure beauty care packages.
According to investigations coordinated by prosecutor Christine Von Borries, LB and the two other defendants, NB and CM, promised clients financing to secure beauty care packages, only to lead them into a cycle of overdrafts that never ended. The clients received numerous credit lines, never getting the treatments but instead facing massive debt.
The beauty center eventually stopped operations in 2019, leaving clients with significant loan installments to pay. Moreover, many received ‘return’ requests from financial companies, asking them to honor debts they thought were closed.
Dismayed, the clients were asked to pay off debts, including interest, which they believed were cleared according to their agreement with Body Care. The debts, amounting to millions of euros, were due to Mobi srl, a bankrupt company.
The company’s financial mismanagement and alleged crimes, including asset diversion, debts to the Treasury and local authorities, and unpaid social security contributions, resulted in a liability of nearly two and a half million euros.
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