Among the latest suspects investigated by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office in a labor exploitation probe is also Andrea Dini, brother-in-law of the Lombardy president Attilio Fontana. This is in his capacity as CEO of Dama Spa, which has just been placed under emergency judicial control, according to the order issued by prosecutor Paolo Storari (pictured). The same measure was also issued against Aspesi, both companies belonging to the fashion world.
The accusation against Dama SpA, a company with 107 million euros in annual revenue, 5.6 million euros in profits, and 309 employees including 130 workers, investigated under the law on corporate administrative liability, is “exploitation” of Chinese laborers in a “state of need” employed 7 days a week. “In particular – details the Fatto Quotidiano – work shifts from 8 am to 10 pm, 14 hours even on Saturdays and Sundays, were found, with wages considered in conflict with collective bargaining agreements and constitutional principles.”
YET ANOTHER URGENT JUDICIAL CONTROL IN THE FASHION SECTOR
The Milan prosecutor’s office has thus ordered urgent judicial control of Dama Spa, owner of the Paul & Shark brand. In the register of suspects, in addition to Dini, there are three Chinese citizens owning the workshops and the Italian entrepreneur Francesco Umile Chiappetta, president of Alberto Aspesi & C spa, the other company in the same sector for which the same measure was ordered.
This is part of the increasingly widespread and fragmented investigation aimed at identifying cases of labor exploitation in the fashion industry. Before Dama Spa, prosecutors opened files starting from spring 2024 against luxury giants such as Alviero Martini Spa, Armani, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Valentino for negligent facilitation, while Tod’s of the Della Valle family, like Dama Spa, is directly accused of exploitation and faces a request for a ban on advertising.
THE PROSECUTOR’S CHARGES
According to the investigation decree and reported by the agencies, “in relation to high fashion brands, investigations revealed that both Dama Spa and Aspesi Spa show a generalized lack of organizational models” and “a flawed internal audit system.” The investigations, conducted by the Metropolitan Operational Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, for Fatto “also documented degrading living conditions: workers housed in dormitories lacking light and ventilation and subjected, according to investigators, to forms of surveillance in violation of the Workers’ Statute.”
For the Milan prosecutor’s office “ethical codes, management and control models mean nothing when, to achieve the highest profit at the lowest possible cost, a production system based on labor exploitation is allowed to develop.”
FALSE PROMISES?
Among other things, the prosecutors reiterate that this “clashes with the memorandum of understanding, signed on May 26, 2025, at the Milan Prefecture with the participation of the most representative national trade unions and employers’ associations, aimed at ensuring respect for legality in the fashion production chain.”
