{"id":7426,"date":"2026-01-14T17:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426"},"modified":"2026-01-14T17:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:12:24","slug":"pandoro-cake-influencer-cleared-of-aggravated-fraud-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426","title":{"rendered":"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

An Italian fashion influencer has been acquitted of aggravated fraud, bringing a long-running scandal involving a charity Christmas cake to an end.<\/p>\n

Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers by promoting the sale of a designer pink pandoro as well as Easter eggs that were said to be helping to raise money for a children’s hospital and a charity.<\/p>\n

After a fast-track trial in Milan, a judge found her and two other defendants not guilty. Had she been convicted, she could have faced a jail term.<\/p>\n

Ferragni, 38, told reporters the judgment marked “the end of a nightmare that lasted two years”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The scandal – dubbed “pandorogate” – started with the sale of pink special edition Christmas cakes in 2022.<\/p>\n

Consumers were led to believe that sales of the pandoro would go towards raising funds for a children’s hospital in Turin. But it turned out that the cake’s producer, Balocco, had given a one-off \u20ac50,000 (\u00a343,300) donation to the hospital before the cake’s launch.<\/p>\n

Ferragni has 28 million followers on Instagram and, after her companies made \u20ac1m from the promotion, she pledged to donate the same sum to the hospital.<\/p>\n

The outcry led authorities to initiate a formal investigation and the influencer was handed a \u20ac1m fine in 2023 by Italy’s competition authority over the pandoro cakes, branded with her name and mentioning the children’s hospital.<\/p>\n

Ferragni-branded Easter eggs also became part of the scandal, leading the influencer to agree to pay \u20ac1.2m to a children’s charity to settle complaints that the eggs’ sales allegedly misled consumers.<\/p>\n

She was later indicted on the aggravated fraud charges, along with business associate Fabio Damato. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of one year and eight months in prison for Ferragni but the judge rejected their accusation that the fraud should be seen as aggravated.<\/p>\n

The Milan court found that no aggravation had been involved as a consumer group had withdrawn its original complaint. Ferragni had agreed with consumer organisation Codacons that she would compensate consumers and donate money to a charity for women who had suffered gender violence.<\/p>\n

“We are all moved,” Ferragni told reporters at the end of the trial. “The last two years have been very hard. I had faith in justice, and justice has been done.”<\/p>\n

Despite her acquittal the scandal has proved damaging to Ferragni’s brand and affected her personal life. Her marriage to Italian rapper Fedez fell apart last year.<\/p>\n

It has also led to tighter rules for Italian influencers to show greater transparency in their fund-raising initiatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Italian fashion influencer has been acquitted of aggravated fraud, bringing a long-running scandal involving a charity Christmas cake to an end. Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[8358,7526,6093,926,8357,6395,8356],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nPandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy - Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T17:12:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FriscoTimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@FriscoTimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a19164ce1d831906a076fe0ad133471f\"},\"headline\":\"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T17:12:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"aggravated\",\"Cake\",\"cleared\",\"Fraud\",\"influencer\",\"Italy\",\"Pandoro\"],\"articleSection\":[\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\",\"name\":\"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy - Frisco Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T17:12:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/\",\"name\":\"Frisco Times\",\"description\":\"Your Gateway to San Francisco's Stories\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Frisco Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Frisco Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/FriscoTimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/friscotimes\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a19164ce1d831906a076fe0ad133471f\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e5ed783f9b26be57eee85bf9b23488a?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e5ed783f9b26be57eee85bf9b23488a?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy - Frisco Times","description":"Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy - Frisco Times","og_description":"Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.","og_url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426","og_site_name":"Frisco Times","article_published_time":"2026-01-14T17:12:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FriscoTimes","twitter_site":"@FriscoTimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a19164ce1d831906a076fe0ad133471f"},"headline":"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy","datePublished":"2026-01-14T17:12:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg","keywords":["aggravated","Cake","cleared","Fraud","influencer","Italy","Pandoro"],"articleSection":["World"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426","name":"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy - Frisco Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-14T17:12:24+00:00","description":"Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/3ab75750-f15a-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg","width":1024,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7426#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pandoro cake influencer cleared of aggravated fraud in Italy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/","name":"Frisco Times","description":"Your Gateway to San Francisco's Stories","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization","name":"Frisco Times","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Frisco Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/FriscoTimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/friscotimes\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a19164ce1d831906a076fe0ad133471f","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e5ed783f9b26be57eee85bf9b23488a?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e5ed783f9b26be57eee85bf9b23488a?s=96&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/friscotimes.org"],"url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}