Real estate wheeler dealer Danilo Coppola was arrested on Thursday on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy, money laundering and misappropriation of funds.
Together with Stefano Ricucci, Coppola was part of a group of young real estate brokers who emerged from nowhere to build massive fortunes by speculating in the real estate market at a time when the state, insurance companies and bank were divesting the real estate assets.
Ricucci was arrested last April in a high-profile investigation into alleged market-rigging which focused on his stake-building in RCS Mediagroup, a publishing group which owns Italy's most influential newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Aside from real estate, Coppola also invested in the banking sector and after buying a 3% in Banca Nazaionale del Lavoro, he managed to acquire an almost 5% stake in Italy's influential merchant bank Mediobanca, which he later reduced to 2.17%.
Coppola's arrest is linked to the bankruptcies of a string of companies in his financial empire which police believe were piloted to create an apparent accounting hole of some 130 million euros.
Also arrested on Thursday were a number of Coppola's collaborators and former associates, including his brother-in-law Luca Necci and Ricucci's former brother-in-law Francesco Bellocchi.
