Vertices cleared. Founders in custody. Company funds blocked. Lastminute.com is accused by the Swiss authorities of defrauding the state by illegally using economic aid to companies to tackle the pandemic crisis. The alleged scam, which the Lugano prosecutors are investigating, would amount to € 28.5 million. The investigation, according to what the Swiss media reported, was born from the anonymous letter of a dismissed employee. The company, which denies the offenses and has promised extensive cooperation to the investigators, have been blocked in the meantime funds for 7 million.
What is Lastminute.com
Lastminute.com counts today 43 million users in 40 countries. It was founded in 2000 but the company has had different names following acquisitions and mergers with other groups and startups in the sector. It is based in Chiasso. The idea was quite simple: to open the travel market to the new internet economy. It is one of the industries that has survived the dot com well and today has billions of users and tens of billions of turnover around the world.
Cannavale’s role in the Italian startup economy
Cannavale is considered one of the pioneers of this sector of the economy. His first company, he told several industry magazines, was a platform for organizing sailing trips. Then he joined the eDreams team, the travel booking platform, which was not his own. He leaves the company and founded Volagratis, which grew exponentially until the acquisition of Lastminute.com in 2015.
Over the years it has earned a leading role in the world of Italian startups. The chronicles of the sector magazines tell us that it has invested in successful startups in Italy such as Satispay, Soundreef and Supermercato24. Serial investors, first with Shark Thank, then with B-Heroes (another TV program) and finally with Boost Heroes, a holding company co-founded with other partners with whom it invests in startups.
Business angel and investor
Now he will have to deal with the Swiss authorities, along with six other people, all Italian citizens. The accusation of the authorities is that through three subsidiaries of Lastminute the group would have defrauded the state coffers. In 2020, Switzerland made 17 billion francs available at close to zero interest rates to ensure corporate liquidity in a short space of time. The first checks on the former employee’s allegations will have to verify whether there are grounds for criminal offenses.