The Guardia di Finanza’s annual report also reveals €4.7 billion seized in tax fraud cases, including Russian oligarchs assets, and nearly 50,000 illegal employment situations uncovered in a 17-month period.
Italy has seized approximately €2 billion worth of assets from Russian oligarchs under the international sanctions regime imposed following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Guardia di Finanza (GDF) disclosed Tuesday in its annual report, published to mark the force’s 252nd anniversary.
The confiscated assets span a broad range of holdings, including residential and commercial properties, luxury vehicles, yachts, artworks and corporate stakes. Italy has been among the most active Western nations in pursuing oligarch assets since the invasion. The GDF moved swiftly from the earliest weeks of the conflict to freeze and seize holdings on Italian territory, including several high-profile superyachts docked at ports along the Italian coast.
Italy is a member of the REPO (Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs) task force, a G7-plus body coordinating international efforts to identify and immobilise sanctioned Russian wealth. The ultimate aim is to make seized assets available for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Tax Evasion and Fraud
The report also covered the GDF’s domestic enforcement activity for the 17-month period from January 2025 to May 2026, disclosing results that illustrate the scale of fiscal crime in Italy.
The force uncovered fraud against Italian and European Union funding programmes amounting to over €1.6 billion in the period — money misappropriated from public grant schemes, subsidies and structural funds. It seized assets worth €4.7 billion suspected of being the proceeds of tax evasion or fiscal fraud.
In terms of individual enforcement, the GDF identified 8,297 people classified as total tax evaders and uncovered 47,419 workers hired entirely off the books or otherwise employed illegally. A total of 20,429 individuals were referred to prosecutors on tax crime charges during the same period.
