The Italian authorities have seized 141 million euros’ ($143 million) worth of assets from Lanfranco Cirillo, the architect behind “Putin’s palace” on the Black Sea, according to a government press release. The seized property includes multiple homes, a helicopter, bank holdings, cash, jewelry, and works of art, including paintings by Picasso, Cézanne, and Kandinsky. Cirillo, who stands accused of violating Italian tax law and laundering money, was not named in the press release.
The public first learned about “Putin’s palace” in 2021, when Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny and his team of investigators released a documentary about the $1.35-billion complex on YouTube. Soon after, Meduza published an interview with Cirillo, who claimed that the home was designed not for Putin but for the Gazprom contractor Stroygazconsulting.
