Benetton torn apart by allegations of betrayal and multi-million dollar scams | Fall of an empire

Complaints, betrayals and the “dramatic hole” of 100 million euros are some of the aspects that revolve around it. Benetton empire scandal, Due to which the fashion world is in suspense. Luciano Benetton, creator of the textile colossus and owner of thousands of hectares of Argentine Patagonia, announces his withdrawal from the company – which he had created in 1965 with his brothers Giuliana, Gilberto and Carlo – and leveled serious allegations against the company’s CEO.

,I trusted and I was wrong. He betrayed me in the truest sense of the word. A few months ago I realized that something was wrong. “The picture of the group that the senior management repeated to us at the board of directors was not real,” Benetton, who has been the group’s executive chairman since he decided to return to the group in 2018, explains in an interview with the newspaper. Retrieved 2013-10-01.

And he added: “Unfortunately sacrifices will have to be made. What I can say is that every effort will be made to rediscover the energy of the best times and give new life to this brand that represents so much to our family.”

Although he did not mention it directly, BAnetton explicitly blames current CEO Massimo Rainoneand the managers around him, for hiding from him a “dramatic balance sheet misappropriation” of around 100 million euros.

“He never asked me anything, neither did he nor the new colleagues he brought in, five of whom come from the sales area of ​​a company whose market tradition is completely different from ours,” he said.

“A bomb exploded at a council meeting. Suddenly they present a dramatic reduction in the budget, a blow that leaves us breathless, by about 100 million“He added.

When asked what the error was, Benetton pointed out two possibilities: “either they were not prepared, to the extent that they did not know how to understand the basic principles of the company, that is, were in good faith but were unsuitable for the positions, Or did they voluntarily decide to hide the reality of the facts“Valuable information was given up to such an extent that they could no longer hide the truth,” replied the Chancellor of the Empire, who assured that the case would be investigated.

Amidst the uproar this admission caused within the Italian industrial world, CEO Renon, who was benched, preferred not to comment and announced that he would respond through lawyers.

Further, when giving notice of your resignation, Benetton recalled that he decided to leave the group in 2012, when the company was doing well and had an annual turnover of around 2 billion euros.. But in 2018 his brother Gilberto, shortly before his death, convinced him that he had to return. Then the numbers did not go so well, the company was losing a lot of money and in late 2019 it was suggested that he appoint as CEO a candidate about whom there were mixed voices. A man who, years later, and above all, in September last year, realized that he had disappointed him.

“Only in a meeting on September 23, 2023 did he suggest that there was some problem, but not a major problem. Everything seemed to be under control (…). But The numbers haven’t leveled off and the problem has grown beyond what was reported in SeptemberAnd. on the other hand, I have been hearing voices of discontent within and outside the company for a long time now due to the arrogant attitude of the new directors.’

The company, which stopped trading on the stock market in 2012, is now part of the Edizione holding company, which is divided between four branches of the family.

“Fortunately – the textile industry veteran explained – we decided some time ago to take Benetton private. Therefore, the business risks were and are in the hands of the family.”

The consequences did not take long to arrive after Benetton dropped the bomb. In Ponzano, a town in the province of Treviso where Benetton has its headquarters, it was established There is concern in the unions, Although they knew there were problems with the accounts, they could not have imagined a hole “so big”, according to the ANSA agency.

The official announcement of the 89-year-old veteran’s departure is expected to be made in the Assembly on June 18.

Lords of the South

In addition to its fame in the fashion world, the Benetton surname is also known in Argentina Owner of 900,000 hectares in Patagonia.

To establish the original origin of the legal ownership of these lands, we need to go back to “Conquest of the Desert” led by Julio Argentino Roca.Which includes the massacre of those who occupied them for the appropriation of their lands.

After their appropriation by the State, they were given away free of charge to 11 pioneer individuals who had behind them an English company called The Argentine Southern Land Company Limited. The pioneers appeared before the Land and Colony Office to request 80 thousand hectares each. The concession was granted according to Article 98, Chapter III, of the second part of Law No. 817 on “Immigration and Colonization”, better known as the Avellaneda Law, which established the company’s obligation to subdivide it, distribute it to settlers and carry out a series of actions.

The British company never fulfilled those obligations, but it did benefit from other legislation that eventually granted it ownership in exchange for making certain investments. But those investments were not made either, with sheep and cattle being herded and field staff moved at the speed of inspection until the inspections were complete.

The wool, mule, horse and warehouse business gave him an annual return of 130 per cent on the small initial capital invested, about £60,000. According to Ramon Minieri in the book The Exotic South.

In 1974 three Argentine capitalists, Menéndez, Ochoa and Paz, bought it through an offshore company based in Luxembourg and only in 1982, due to the Malvinas War, they changed its English name to Compañía Argentina de Tierras del Sud These were sold to Benetton in the nineties of the last century, who have since occupied Mapuche lands, which have been illegally appropriated by the state and given free and irregularly to foreign landowners.