Italian producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori is back under house arrest as he is investigated for fraudulent bankruptcy of his holding company Finmavi Spa, Italian media widely reports.

The arrests must certainly come as a blow to Cecchi Gori – whose legal woes began some ten years ago but who had been making something of a turn around in the past 12 months.

In March, the Los Angeles superior court ordered producer Gianni Nunnari pay $15m to Cecchi Gori in income and expenses from several projects the likes of 300, Everybody’s Fine, The Departed, Shutter Island and Hugo Cabret.

In fact, Cecchi Gori, who has long said he will make a come back, recently announced his involvement in the upcoming Martin Scorsese project Silence.

But his troubles are far from over at home with the Rome court investigating the producer for the bankruptcy of Finmavi Spa to the value of some $860m (€600m).

The Rome court aimed to seize the $15m awarded in Los Angeles in order to make money available to creditors connected to Finmavi losses, but, the funds were never made available to the Rome court with Cecchi Gori allegedly trying to take possession of the money through his US holdings Cecchi Gori USA and Cecchi Gori pictures, the companies named in the court award last spring.

Cecchi Gori first came under scrutiny in 2001 – among his many woes include the failing in 2002 of the Fiorentina football club and that of Safin, the film company controlled by Finmavi valuing a reported €25m. He was jailed in 2008, but despite all of his legal battles Cecchi Gori has always maintained his innocence and has even emerged at times and reinforced his producer prowess – including with the hit teen flick Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore – in the same year he was incarcerated. 

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