SEAT Pagine Gialle CEO Lorenzo Pellicioli and nine others are under investigation as part of a probe into Italy’s largest phone company Telecom Italia, according to news reports.
E-mail marketing company NetCreations, New York, was acquired by SEAT earlier this year and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEAT.
Rosalind Resnick, CEO of NetCreations, declined comment.
Also under investigation is Telecom Italia CEO Roberto Colaninno. The investigation covered suspicions of false accounting, conflict of interest, distribution of false expert opinions and share manipulation, the reports said.
Prosecutors have been examining capital gains made by Colaninno and his business partner Emilio Gnutti related to Telecom Italia’s purchase of Seat Pagine Gialle SpA, Italy’s largest Internet company, last year. They have denied any wrongdoing, the reports said.
Last month leading Italian newspapers reported that prosecutors were examining Telecom Italia’s takeover last year of publisher Seat Pagine Gialle, in which Colaninno had indirect stakes.
Telecom has also defended a controversial stock option exercised by Pellicioli at the time of the merger, saying it dated back to an agreement with Seat’s previous shareholders and was not directly part of the deal.
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