ION Founder to Pay €280 Million to Settle Tax Probe: Carlino | Company Business News

(Bloomberg) — ION Group founder Andrea Pignataro has reached an agreement with Italian tax authorities to pay €280 million ($319 million) to end a probe into alleged tax evasion, Il Resto del Carlino reported on Sunday.

Prosecutors in Bologna, where the fintech billionaire was born, had originally sought up to €1.2 billion in arrears, interest and other costs relating to a period up to 2023, according to the newspaper. He’ll make the payments in instalments over five years, Carlino said. While a criminal case against him remains open, the settlement could work in his favor in that process, the newspaper said.

Although Pignataro claims to reside in Switzerland and most of ION’s business is in the UK, officials said he was liable to pay taxes in Italy because his family has lived there throughout the period, Carlino said. Investigators pored through travel and phone records and examined his personal relationships to conclude that he spent most of his time in his home country, according to the report.

A representative for Pignataro declined to comment. The Italian tax authority couldn’t immediately be reached outside business hours.

Pignataro has quietly become one of the most important men in Italian finance, building a network of companies that control data, trade securities and help the European Central Bank manage the euro. 

In Italy, through ION, Pignataro controls financial services firms Cedacri SpA, Cerved Group SpA and Prelios SpA. That means the group handles large amounts of data on Italian borrowers and companies, while providing software for most lenders.

He’s also bought stakes in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Illimity Bank SpA and Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra.

After studying at Bologna University, Pignataro worked as a bond trader in London, where he later received a doctorate in math from London’s Imperial College. While working for Salomon Brothers, he helped lead a joint venture with Pisa-based software firm List Holdings, filings show. That business would eventually become ION Trading UK, the start of what is now ION Group. 

Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, competes with ION in providing financial software and data.

–With assistance from Luca Casiraghi.

(Updates with response from Pignataro representative in fourth paragraph.)

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