Italy ‘s biggest influencer is facing a prison sentence over claims she is a fraud

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A cautionary tale is emerging in Italy. According to reports, famed Italian influencer Chiara Ferrangi is facing up to five years in prison on claims that she committed fraud with a series of posts a few years ago that sparked outrage. The posts involved limited edition Christmas cakes and eggs she had spoken about online back in 2022.

The Lowdown

Italy’s anti-trust agency is continuing its case against influencer Chiara Ferragni. According to the case, prosecutors allege that two Christmas ago with a pair of posts about limited edition Christmas cakes and eggs — she misled her followers several times over.

The claims don’t just involve something typically of a fraudulent nature either. Officials claim that she misled her followers after she claimed that the funds raised from both items would be donated to the fight against bone cancer in children. The pink pandoro cakes have all but upended Ferragni ‘s career. Per the case, she’s already forked over 1.2 million euros to a charity to settle the case and was fined more than 1 million euros by Italy’s anti-trust agency.

Now, however, comes the prison sentence. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of one to five years for the thirty-seven-year-old fashion influencer who boasts tens of millions of followers on Instagram.

So, what happened?

Back in 2022, Ferragni who boasts some 30m followers on Instagram as a fashion influencer posted a series of photographs with limited edition Christmas cakes and eggs that were ‘for sale.’ At the time, she claimed that the sales from such items would be donated to the fight against children with bone cancer — except authorities argue that’s not what happened.

Charges by the anti-trust agency were filed in December 2023.

According to the case, cake maker Balocco was also fined about 420k euros for their role in the scheme. Prosecutors allege that the cake maker along with Ferrigini had hatched a scheme that the hospital in question Turin’s Regina Margherita Hospital for Children, would only get 50k euros regardless of how much or well the cakes and eggs sold Ferragni on her part later apologized to her followers though the damage over her deception has been widespread since.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Ferragni.