Five years after the start of judicial investigations into the international “Folli Follie scandal“, the trial for the falsification of the company’s financial data to appear prosperous starts again today from scratch, as its trial had been forced to adjourn last December and after 11 months of proceedings, due to the abstention of the lawyers.

With those considered, according to the indictment, as main characters the big one deception of the investing public, Dimitris Kutsoliutsofounder of the Group and his son, Tzortzis, freed after 18 months of temporary detention, the trial in which Kaiti Koutsoliutsou and another 7 executives and partners of FF Group are also defendants, will actually start before the 3rd Tripartite Court of Appeal Felonies in subsequent trials, to be determined by the court today.

The previous trial, during which 22 witnesses had been examined, had been forced to adjourn until December 14, 2022 by a court order, due to the continued abstention of lawyers in protest at the Ministry of Justice’s changes to the less favorable criminal treatment of defendants for action no not only of a criminal organization but also of a gang. The mobilization of the lawyers is in effect until the end of June, however, for the progress of the folli follie trial, special permits were given by the DSA for the lawyers of both sides to attend.

The defendants in the case they are facing serious charges concerning the criminal organization action, which coordinated and with a multitude of actions had succeeded by falsifying the financial data of the FF group to present the jewelry manufacturing company as robust and powerful for a number of years. Dimitris and Tzortzis Koutsoliutsos, who are on trial as the leaders of the criminal organization, according to the charge, directed the whole “beautification operation” of the company’s image with falsified financial balance sheets, false documents and false related transactions, within the Group, essentially manipulating its stock .

According to the referral will, the total damage from the action of the criminal organization exceeds 400 million euros with the largest amount being the damage suffered by natural and legal persons of private law and the smaller legal persons of public affairs, such as for example the EFKA.

The defendants will be tried on the following charges:

1. The criminal organization (formation, management, membership).

2. Forgery (and forgery), jointly and severally with a total benefit and corresponding loss of more than 120,000 euros.

3. Fraud by complicity and by follow-up (and the synergy), against natural and legal persons, NPID and NPDD.

4. The joint, professional and subsequent manipulation of the market (and the synergy thereof).

5. Money laundering from criminal activities by complicity and by continuation.

The founder of the company, Dimitris Koutsoliutsos, will also be tried for the additional felony charge of abuse of privileged information by follow-up and by profession.

The Folli Follie court case began a few days after the publication of the report of the international fund QCM, which on May 4, 2018 informed that “something is not right” with the financial data of FFG, the points of sale and the Asian subsidiaries of the company that were showing huge turnovers. The fund’s report considered that the Group founded by Dimitris Koutsoliutsos is significantly smaller than the displayed image. The judicial and financial investigation that followed revealed that the company for a number of years, starting in 2001, displayed fictitious sales and bank data with supposed amounts in accounts, using the Asian arm, succeeding in displaying a dynamic and robust situation with beneficiaries mainly Dimitris and George Koutsolioutsos, who incorporated the data of the alleged China transactions into the Group’s balance sheets.

Criminal prosecutions and asset freezes followed, while a restructuring program was planned for the company.

The two accused protagonists were, after their apologies for the case in September 2020, temporarily detained and released last February.