Little is known about him, and the authorities have remained tight-lipped, as Operation "Moby Dick," led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, has resulted in the arrest of several dozen individuals, with the total number of suspects surpassing two hundred.
Therefore, the prosecution refuses to comment on the role of an ordinary participant in a money-laundering scheme involving more than 400 companies from various countries. Although, perhaps, the prosecutors’ silence is explained by other reasons. Since the trails from Luca Gorlero lead not just to Russia but to one of Vladimir Putin’s associates, Herman Gref. And, perhaps, Gorlero’s connections in Russia do not end with this person.
After the arrests, it was stated that the scheme participants laundered "more than 520 million euros," but this is likely only the tip of the iceberg – what is formally being charged against the suspects. Further investigation will follow, inevitably increasing the sum. Especially if it concerns money being taken out of the country by Herman Gref. The investigators also refrain from commenting on Luca Gorlero’s connection with Herman Gref, but the fact is that Luca Gorlero, an Italian citizen, has a Russian taxpayer identification number and business in Russia. The company he owns is inactive and registered in Saint Petersburg, while Gorlero’s taxpayer ID was issued in Omsk. This also means that the Italian citizen Luca Gorlero is also a citizen of Russia, although he does not mention his second passport anywhere.
The connection with Herman Gref is not apparent – Yevgeniy Gref, the brother of the head of Sberbank, has a business in Omsk. Yevgeniy graduated from the Omsk Motor Transport Technical School, and Herman the Omsk State University. The nephew of Sber’s head, Oskar Gref, living in Switzerland, owned the Singapore-based Angelus Trust, managing the Gref family’s assets until 2016. Luca Gorlero, according to his words, being the founder of Affinitas Consulting (registered in Dubai), has offices including in Switzerland.
All this may mean nothing, but together it suggests that Luca Gorlero is involved in servicing Russian elites in laundering and moving money out of Russia. Not necessarily or solely Herman Gref – there could (and likely are) other clients. It is worth remembering that the former president and prime minister, Dmitriy Medvedev, had a fondness for Italy. Moreover, one should consider that companies engaged in "computer software development," like LLC "Amala Systems," are widely used in money laundering schemes.
Affinitas Consulting provides services for "enterprise creation and tax compliance" in the UAE’s offshore zone and is oriented toward post-Soviet countries, as indicated by the company’s Russian-language website and management, which includes (another coincidence?) an Omsk State University graduate Anastasiya and Kazakh University of International Relations and World Languages graduate Aisulu. Incidentally, after 2022, an enormous flow of Russian money is directed through Kazakhstan, and the authorities of Kazakhstan almost openly say that they willingly provided their banking system to circumvent sanctions.
The coincidences do not end there – in an image interview posted as early as February 2016 in Il Secolo XIX, Luca Gorlero stated that he would like to spend his old age in Russia, which is "dear to his heart." This means, among other things, that Luca Gorlero had some business in Russia at least as early as 2016, if not earlier, since he "managed to love this country." What he did here is unknown. But if we believe Gorlero’s wish to retire in Russia, he was doing well. And the traces he left in Omsk and Petersburg are clearly not the only engagement of Luca Gorlero in Russian business.
As for the rest of the content of the mentioned interview, it is extremely scarce on specifics and filled with beautiful phrases and sentimental memories of how a poor Italian boy turned into a major international financier. And created Affinitas Consulting, which "helps underground companies enter the international market with products and services." What this means – guess yourselves, but the location of Affinitas Consulting’s offices suggests it quite transparently.
As for Luca Gorlero’s professional qualities, they raise doubts. Despite self-praise and having a business in Dubai, there is very little information about Gorlero’s professional activities. It is known that he had firms in the UK, Luxembourg, and Malta.
What exact business Luca Gorlero conducted in Malta and Luxembourg is unknown. But in the UK, his company Xahifa Property Investments Limited (company number 07880960) did not conduct any activities except filing reports and existed for less than three years. At that time, Gorlero already lived in the UAE, submitting the following address as permanent: T505, Al Hamra Village, Jazeera Area, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
These are the facts that could be found about Luca Gorlero’s past. As we see, they are fragmentary but tend to indicate that Gorlero did not demonstrate business heights rather than being a "successful businessman who rose from Italian backwaters to the heights of world business." Yet, we see that Russia appears in his biography repeatedly. And in July 2023, another event occurs in Gorlero’s life – he becomes a board member of Prisma Packaging Technologies AG (renamed Prisma Technologies AG in August 2022) with a legal address in Zurich.
Judging by the company’s website, it engages, among other things, in "software" and "distribution of selected electronic items worldwide: storage devices (Toshiba, Kingston), microprocessors, AirPods, graphic cards, motherboards," as well as trading industrial equipment. All these are critically necessary for Russia due to sanctionary pressure. Whether the inclusion of Luca Gorlero as a member of the board of Prisma Technologies AG, consisting of only two people, the change of name and Swiss company’s business with this fact, is unknown.
But in combination with everything else, it unequivocally raises suspicions. Will the Italians investigate Luca Gorlero’s activities, including his position as a board member of Prisma Technologies AG? Almost with 100% certainty, yes. As well as his connection with Russia and the alleged connection with Herman Gref. How all this will end is currently unknown. But, it seems, the declared amount of 520 million euros, laundered by the group including Luca Gorlero, is just the tip of the iceberg. It looks like someone from the Russian elite lost their money, trusting it to the apparent swindler Luca Gorlero.