Italian journalist Massimiliano Coccia has been sued over an investigation into the European assets of the family of Valentina Matviyenko, the chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council, the country’s upper house of parliament. Coccia reported the lawsuit on social media but did not say who filed the complaint. He reposted several posts by other users saying the lawsuit was filed by the Matviyenko family itself. The family’s representatives have not commented on the journalist’s statement.
Coccia called the lawsuit an attempt to intimidate him.
“I'm convinced of the integrity of my journalistic work — but it does demand a serious reflection on the level of impunity and protection that Russian oligarchs and their associates continue to enjoy in our country,” he wrote. “While Europe debates sanctions and democratic security, shadowy networks keep investing capital through shell companies, frontmen, and hard-to-trace financial circuits, all while trying to intimidate investigative journalism. I will continue to report and document how these envoys of corruption, influence, and war still manage to move between Italy and Europe, investing opaque fortunes and seeking to silence those who do reporting. Without fear and with determination.”
Coccia’s investigation into the Matviyenko family was published by the Italian newspaper Linkiesta nearly a year ago. It alleged that Sergei Matviyenko, the son of the Federation Council speaker, lives in a villa in the Italian city of Pesaro on the Adriatic coast and has moved a significant share of his assets to San Marino, an independent republic surrounded by Italy.
According to Linkiesta, Sergei Matviyenko has an Italian tax number but does not conduct any economic activity in Italy. The outlet wrote that this status gives him access to local banks and that, to preserve his assets, the businessman built a formally legal but opaque system.
Coccia describes the province of Pesaro and Urbino as one of the hubs for a network of companies, foundations, and nominal owners through which, according to the investigation, the Matviyenko family may have circumvented sanctions. Sergei Matviyenko is under sanctions from the United States, Japan, and Canada. Valentina Matviyenko is under sanctions from the European Union, the UK, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Ukraine.
The villa in Pesaro, where the investigation says Sergei Matviyenko lives with his wife, Yulia, was bought by Valentina Matviyenko in 2009. The property was later transferred to Dominanta, a foundation registered in Italy that conducts no activity and exists solely to hold property.
In March 2022, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), founded by the late Alexei Navalny, reported that the Matviyenko family’s estate in Pesaro includes a three-story home with a floor area of 774 square meters and a 26-hectare plot of land. The property was valued at approximately €10 million.
