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The Italian fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni has said “the nightmare is over” after being acquitted on fraud charges in a trial linked to Christmas cake and Easter egg charity initiatives.
The social media star, 38, had been on trial in Milan accused of duping consumers in two separate fundraisers – one a Christmas campaign in 2022 promoting pandoro cake, an alternative to the more famous panettone, and the other selling chocolate eggs during Easter campaigns in 2021 and 2022.
Prosecutors had requested a sentence of one year and eight months for aggravated fraud.
“The nightmare is over,” Ferragni told reporters after her acquittal on Wednesday. “I am very happy to take control of my life and get my life back. It has been a very difficult two years. I had faith in justice, and justice has been done.”
Prosecutors began investigating Ferragni in early 2024, after Italy’s anti-trust authority fined her €1m for unfair commercial practices in relation to her promotion of pandoro, a cake produced by the Piedmont-based company Balocco, as part of a fundraising initiative for a children’s hospital in Turin.
Consumers were led to believe that by buying the Ferragni-endorsed cake, for which they paid €9 instead of €3 for the standard version, the hospital would directly benefit. However, the hospital received only a single donation of €50,000 from Balocco, which the anti-trust authority also fined €420,000.
The Easter eggs scandal, which allegedly led consumers to believe they were supporting a children’s charity, emerged during the investigation. In 2024 Ferragni paid about €1.2m to the charity in order to settle the case.
Ferragni denied the fraud charges, telling the trial that she had acted in “good faith”, her lawyer, Giuseppe Iannaccone, said.
During the decade prior to the allegations, Ferragni amassed an estimated €40m fortune, mainly through promoting her glamorous lifestyle on social media and promoting high-end brands.
The scandal dented her reputation, costing her about 200,000 followers and several significant clients, including Coca-Cola. Ferragni still has more than 28 million followers on Instagram although her influence is less powerful.
The fiasco prompted much debate in Italy over social media influencers and the money made out of products they promote, as well as a government crackdown. Those with more than 500,000 followers must register with the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) and comply with transparency rules.
