Italian authorities seize EUR 20 million in Tuscan assets, including vineyards and olive groves, linked to funds allegedly embezzled from actress Ursula Andress.
ROME: Italian financial police have seized assets worth EUR 20 million in Tuscany allegedly purchased with money embezzled from actress Ursula Andress. The assets include property, vineyards, and olive groves.
Andress, now 90, filed a complaint in Switzerland alleging a “progressive and significant depletion of her assets” by her financial managers. Swiss prosecutors in Vaud canton identified a “systematic misappropriation” of around CHF 18 million.
The funds were traced to Italy through multiple opaque transactions. Florence prosecutors took up the case and followed the money trail.
Police tracked the funds to a real estate complex in San Casciano Val di Pesa near Florence. The complex includes 11 property units and 14 plots of land used as vineyards and olive groves.
Works of art and other assets were also identified. The Judge for Preliminary Investigations in Florence ordered the seizure of the entire illicit profit.
The seizure covers assets up to the value of CHF 18 million. No suspects have been publicly identified in the statement.
Andress rose to fame in the 1962 James Bond film “Dr. No”. Her iconic scene featured her emerging from the sea in a white bikini.
That performance launched a career in film and television lasting over two decades.
