Nossaman Assists on Successful Appeal in Parmalat Case
A Nossaman team led by Bob Adler that assisted Antonio Luzi, a former manager in Bank of America’s Milan office, helped win an appeal last week when, 23 years after the collapse of Parmalat—a leading Italian dairy and food company—one of the final chapters in the prosecutions that followed ended.
On January 29, 2026, the Bologna Court of Appeal fully acquitted Mr. Luzi, as well as Luca Sala and Luis Moncada, former managers of the Milan branch of Bank of America, who were indicted by the Milan prosecutor's office – and later the Parma Prosecutor’s office – along with former Parmalat owner Calisto Tanzi, as being responsible for investors’ losses which amounted to more than €10 billion.
Mr. Luzi had the responsibility for analyzing the Parmalat financial statements which turned out to be fraudulent. Bob assisted Italian counsel (Federico Papa) in his representation of Mr. Luzi in Milan on the matter. He traveled to Italy 15 times to confer with Italian counsel and prepare Mr. Luzi for his testimony regarding the case.
The legal process, which began with a class action suit filed in New York and then moved to investigations and prosecutions in Milan and Parma took more than two decades. Stock market manipulation criminal charges were brought in Milan against Tanzi as well as Bank of America managers. The case involving Tanzi reached a final decision in the Supreme Court of Cassation in 2011, with a reduction in the sentence due to the statute of limitations on some of the crimes and confirmation of compensation to investors, estimated at €103 million, by press sources at the time.
After a trial which took place over a period of three years in Milan, Mr. Luzi as well as Sala and Moncada were acquitted. About 10 years ago, criminal charges were filed in Parma against Messrs. Luzi, Sala and Moncada for fraudulent bankruptcy. After preliminary proceedings and a trial which lasted four years, the Tribunal’s decision was issued on April 21, 2022, finding Messrs. Luzi, Sala and Moncada guilty.
On the recent appeal to the Bologna Court of Appeals, this outcome was overturned with a full acquittal for all three defendants. In the meantime, according to press reports, statutes of limitations had expired on the criminal charges. Yet the Appellate panel ruled on the merits, holding the Tribunal improperly convicted them in the first instance. This decision was widely reported in the Italian press as a historic victory for the three defendants as well as Bank of America. This effectively closes the chapter on the Parmalat debacle that erupted in December 2003.
