The suspicions relate to sales and purchases of shares, between friends, of the Mithra company. Just before the announcement of a commercial agreement with a large American distributor of contraceptives, Samuel Di Giovanni, the boss of the firm Protection Unit, acquires for just under a million Mithra shares. But a few days earlier, François Fornieri, the founder of Mithra, invested an almost equivalent sum in Protection Unit. At the same time, Licio D’Onofrio, the former soccer player’s agent, took a half-million stake in Mithra.
Were these operations carried out in the hope of a nice capital gain on the stock market, thanks to privileged information? That’s what the public prosecutor thinks. At this stage of the procedure, it is enough to see if there are clues. But to establish the facts and the intentions, it will not be easy. The three men have a close bond. They are partners in an investment company called DDF, with the initials of their surnames. They sometimes sit together on one or the other board of directors, and sometimes one is a consultant for the other. So, who said what, to whom, and when? Messages exchanged, e-mails sent and received appear in the file, and attest to a great proximity. From there to talk about evidence and insider trading, there is room. Moreover, one of the three accused, Licio D’Onofrio, was exonerated by the council chamber on Tuesday. His dismissal could be appealed, but the decision has not yet been made. The lawyers for the other two are making a point of demonstrating that these are unfounded accusations.