Assets seized in Italy while you live abroad

A criminal seizure can affect very different assets, including:

• bank accounts, deposits and securities, often through a preventive seizure aimed at confiscation, including “by equivalent”: assets and sums available to the suspect, up to the value of the alleged profit, even if they are not linked to the offence;
• cash found during a check;
• cars, motorbikes, campervans, boats and jet skis (see boating accidents and seized vessels);
• houses, flats and land, for example over alleged building violations;
• businesses, company shares and company assets: when a preventive seizure concerns businesses or companies, the judicial authority as a rule appoints a judicial administrator (art. 104-bis disp. att. c.p.p.);
• crypto-assets, wallets and exchange accounts;
• phones, computers, documents and data, usually through an evidentiary seizure (see searches and seizures).

For tax offences, confiscation, and therefore the seizure that prepares it, covers the profit or price of the offence, unless it belongs to a person not involved in the offence, or, where that is not possible, other assets available to the offender, of corresponding value (art. 12-bis of Legislative Decree 74/2000). There is also the protective seizure (sequestro conservativo) of the defendant’s assets, requested during the trial to secure procedural costs, other sums owed to the State and civil liabilities arising from the offence: anyone with an interest can request its review (arts. 316 and 318 c.p.p.).

Undeclared cash of 10,000 euros or more at the border is a different matter: as a rule it is an administrative offence (Legislative Decree 195/2008), with its own rules.

With a bank account, you often notice the seizure because the bank blocks transactions. A car is usually seized during a check, at the port or on the road, and the seizure is recorded in a report (verbale di sequestro) drawn up on the spot. An owner who lives abroad may hear about it days later, from a relative or from whoever was driving.

A preventive seizure of a house or flat is carried out by entering the order in the land registers (art. 104 of the implementing provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure); the same applies to vehicles entered in the Italian vehicle register (PRA). The news may come from a land registry search, a notary, a tenant or a relative.

In every case, keep proof of when and how you learnt of the seizure: a message, an email, the date of the registry search. The deadline for review can run from that date, and informal news, such as a phone call, may count as well: not only receiving the documents.

A preventive seizure (sequestro preventivo) ordered by a judge can be challenged before the Court of Review (Tribunale del riesame) within ten days of its execution or of the different date on which the person concerned learnt of it (arts. 322 and 324 c.p.p.). The same deadline applies to an evidentiary seizure (sequestro probatorio, arts. 257 and 324 c.p.p.); when the police seized the property and the Public Prosecutor validated the seizure, it runs from service of the validation decree or from the date the person learnt of the seizure (art. 355 c.p.p.). If instead a preventive seizure was carried out urgently by the police or ordered by the Public Prosecutor, it must be validated by a judge (art. 321(3-bis) and (3-ter) c.p.p.): which order to challenge, and from when the ten days run, must be checked on the documents.

Filing the request does not suspend the seizure. If the ten days have passed, other routes remain, with no deadline: a request for return when the property is no longer needed as evidence (arts. 262 and 263 c.p.p.) and, for a preventive seizure, a request for revocation when the legal requirements are not met, including because of subsequent events (art. 321(3) c.p.p.). If the judge rejects the revocation request, that order can be appealed, but within ten days (arts. 322-bis, 310 and 309(1) c.p.p.).

Review and appeal are not reserved for the suspect. They can also be filed by the person from whom the property was seized and by the person entitled to its return (arts. 257, 322, 322-bis and 355 c.p.p.).

This is the typical position of someone who lives abroad and owns a property, a bank account, company shares or a vehicle in Italy that others use or manage. The defence documents ownership and, where relevant, that the owner had nothing to do with the alleged offence.

What kind of seizure it really is. The heading of the report is not enough: a report may speak of a preventive seizure while the Public Prosecutor validates it as an evidentiary one. Remedies and deadlines depend on the validation order, not on the heading of the report.

Where it comes from. When a house or land is seized over alleged building violations, the seizure often follows an inspection by the municipal technical office. Ask for a copy of the technical report straight away: the seizure report may reproduce it almost word for word, and it is the starting point for checking the case, together with the building permits.

As a rule, you do not need to come to Italy. A suspect appoints a lawyer of choice with a signed appointment (nomina), which can be signed abroad and is filed by the lawyer (art. 96 c.p.p.).

For a suspect there is also a practical reason: after the first notice, most documents are served on the lawyer, whether chosen or court-appointed, with some exceptions (art. 157-bis c.p.p.). In addition, someone living abroad who is invited by the authority to declare or elect an address for service in Italy and does not do so within thirty days receives notices through the lawyer (art. 169 c.p.p.). Someone who has never heard from their court-appointed lawyer may not know that the case is moving forward.

An owner who is not a suspect instead gives the lawyer a special power of attorney (procura speciale): applying art. 100 c.p.p., prevailing case law requires it for a third party’s lawyer, and without it the request may be declared inadmissible. The signature must be authenticated: if you cannot sign in front of the lawyer, the office will explain how to do it from the country where you are.

• the seizure report and, if available, the order of the judge or of the Public Prosecutor;
• the validation decree or order, if the police carried out the seizure;
• the judge’s orders and every notice you have received, including any notice of investigation (informazione di garanzia);
• for property, the building permits, any regularisation or amnesty applications (sanatoria or condono) and correspondence with the municipality;
• proof of ownership: bank statements or a bank letter for accounts; the Italian vehicle document (documento unico) or, for older vehicles, the registration certificate and certificate of ownership, and for vehicles with foreign plates the registration document of the country concerned; deed of purchase or succession and a land registry (ipotecaria) search for property (a cadastral extract alone does not prove ownership); company register extract and company records for shares; exchange account details and wallet addresses for crypto-assets, never the private key or recovery (seed) phrase;
• proof of the date on which you learnt of the seizure;
• an identity document, your contact details and your preferred language.

If you do not have the report or the order, you can still start: once instructed, the lawyer asks the authority in charge for a copy.

The first contact is free. The cost of the first assessment depends on how complex the case is and how many documents need to be examined. After the first contact and a conflict check, to give you a precise figure the office asks you to send, through the confidential channel it indicates, the documents you have about the seizure and the matter behind it: those listed above and anything else you think may be useful.