It’s true, the invisible man exists and he is Italian, and he led a life of luxury evading taxes. He is no longer invisible though.
Stories of tax evasion in Italy are legion, such the one about the guy who declared an income of €500 a year but somehow managed to run five Ferraris. Well, Ferrari-man has now been soundly beaten by the invisible man who had assets worth millions, but was completely unknown to Italy’s tax authorities.
Amazingly, the invisible man, called Umberto Ruta, was once once registered as an official finance/credit agent with the Bank of Italy. His invisibility was finally removed when Ruta ended up being collared by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza tax police.
What is surprising about Italy’s Invisible Man is the wealth he had managed to amass, whilst remaining, er, totally and utterly invisible to Italy’s tax authorities. Owing to his non-existence, this man cannot even qualify as one of Italy’s well-heeled poor!
Here are the assets seized from arch-tax evader Mr Invisible according to a list which appeared in yesterday’s Il Messeggero:
- An €18,000 Harley Davidson
- A Ferretti 72 motor cruiser, worth around €1,000,000, second-hand
- A Porsche Panamera
- A Porsche Cayenne
- A villa in Sicily, with swimming pool and a fitness centre
- An apartment in downtown Milan
Actually, although Italian, Mr Invisible is not resident in Italy, he is merely domiciled in Milan. This invisible man is resident in Switzerland, where he probably has another magnificent mansion – probably hidden amongst a small forest of alpine trees.
Somehow, Mr Invisible was finally spotted by the Italian authorities, presumably with the help of thermal imaging equipment, after his name came up in connection with what appeared to be a fraudulent bankruptcy case involving fake invoices. The bankruptcy case had already led to the arrest of six people, but not Mr Invisible. Well, the invisible man is notoriously difficult to spot.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
As mentioned before, Mr Invisible was once registered with the Bank of Italy, although he had been struck off the list for illicit business dealings. He’s quite a dodgy character, is the invisible man.
Aside from evading taxes, Mr Invisible was allegedly highly adept at ripping off businessmen. He reputedly took considerable sums for investment purposes, but then never actually invested the cash in anything, aside from a couple of highly visible Porsches, a visibly impressive Ferretti motor boat and a lovely villa in Sicily, that is.
All the while, this wily invisible guy never paid a penny in income tax, simply because he was unknown to Italy’s tax authorities. Invisible, he was.
Italy’s tax people are, finally, starting to put two and two together in a country where the average jeweller declares an annual income of around €16,000, and more stories, similar to the case of Mr Invisible, will no doubt come to light in the next few months.
There are probably quite a few other invisible men and women in Italy.
Perhaps if Italy had visibly cracked down on tax evasion a little sooner, painful reforms to the nation’s pension system would not have been necessary? Is that clear?
Photo credit: Invisible man image by mcertou