Italian financial police have seized “highly valuable” assets, including a private helicopter and original art by Picasso and Cezanne, of the Italian architect credited with building Vladimir Putin’s supposed mansion on the Black Sea. Lanfranco Cirillo, who has said he has built villas for 43 Russian billionaires and who Putin personally awarded honorary Russian citizenship in 2014, is under investigation for dodging $56 million in taxes. Authorities say the investigation is in the “beginning stages” and many of the architect’s assets are owned by his wife. More than 100 special agents with Italy’s Guardia di Finanzia tax police swooped in on a villa in Brescia, where most of his most prized assets were kept. Cirillo, who is believed to be in Russia, has not been arrested.
Read it at Times of London
