New Will Sparks Legal Battle Among Agnelli Heirs

Turin: A previously unknown will signed by former Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli has been filed by his daughter Margherita in a Turin court, igniting a legal battle with other heirs over his estate. The will, which dates back to 1998, allocates 25% of the family “strongbox Dicembre,” controlling all the group’s companies, to his son Edoardo, who passed away in 2000.

According to Ansa News Agency, Margherita’s lawyers argue that this newly surfaced will contradicts the provision by which Agnelli had previously bequeathed his 25% stake in Dicembre to his grandson, John Elkann. The lawyers assert that the will reveals Agnelli’s intention for his son Edoardo to inherit the stake, and in his absence, for it to pass to his legitimate heirs, Margherita Agnelli and Marella Caracciolo, the latter of whom died in 2019.

Prosecutors in Turin have initiated an investigation involving three individuals connected to the inheritance dispute. The suspects include Gianluca Ferrero, a Turin accountant, Robert Von Groueningen, the administrator of Marella Agnelli’s inheritance, and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann, who is Agnelli’s grandson and the son of Margherita Agnelli.

Gianni Agnelli, a towering figure in Italian industry, passed away on January 24, 2003, at the age of 81, leaving behind a complex legacy that continues to unfold through this legal contest.