He is often referred to as the “heir to the Del Vecchio family.” Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio has reportedly been placed under investigation, as announced on Saturday 26 October by Milan’s anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo, along with a number of other people. Judges are looking into alleged trafficking in private information acquired illegally via an Italian company and information from strategic databases such as that of the tax authorities.

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is alleged to have spied on four of his brothers in the context of the succession following the death of his father on 27 June 2022, his fiancée and the director of his family office, LMDV, Marco Talarico, with whom he invested €250m in 40 companies over 18 months.

Chief strategy officer “Leonardo Maria is doing a great job in his role at EssilorLuxottica and he has our full support at this difficult time,” the company told the Financial Times. His lawyer, Maria Emanuela Mascalchi, described him as a victim rather than a perpetrator. Del Vecchio is “eagerly awaiting the completion of preliminary investigations to be able to prove he has nothing to do with the events in question and that charges against him have no basis,” she told the FT.

On the death of the founder of the Italian group, whose holding company, Delfin, is based in Luxembourg, five of his six sons each received 3.28 million shares and equivalent rights, and Nicoletta Zampilio, the mother of four of his children whom he married twice, received double that amount. The son of Paola Bulgari, to whom the entrepreneur was married, Basilo Rocco, who plays an important role in Luxottica and EssilorLuxottica, particularly in strategic development and digital initiatives, received the same share as each son. Only Claudio Del Vecchio, who was born of a first marriage but is very far removed from the group, was excluded from this structure--but not from the inheritance.

Delfin, the Del Vecchio bridgehead and Luxair shareholder

Delfin, which also holds shares in the financial institutions Generali, Mediobanca and Unicredit, is also a shareholder in Luxair (just over 13%).

At the age of 25, in 1961, Leonardo Del Vecchio Sr founded Luxottica in the small town of Agordo, in the Belluno region, specialising at the time in spectacle frames. Del Vecchio had the intuition that he could transform a simple frame factory into an integrated brand that would control the entire production and distribution chain. In 1971, he launched the first eyewear collection under the Luxottica brand, marking the beginning of his integrated vision, where production, distribution and design all came under one roof. Over the years, it acquired iconic brands such as Ray-Ban, Persol and Oakley, as well as prestigious licences (Chanel, Prada, Burberry, etc.). It also extended its grip on the retail sector with the purchase of chains such as Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters. In 2018, Luxottica merged with French giant Essilor, creating EssilorLuxottica, a global optical colossus.

EssilorLuxottica recently reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2024, with consolidated sales reaching €6.4bn, an increase of 4% on the previous year. In terms of innovation, EssilorLuxottica launched several new products, such as Ray-Ban Meta glasses in partnership with Meta (formerly Facebook), which combine technology and style, a partnership extended until 2030, and Stellest myopia lenses in China, which saw a 40% increase in demand. The group has also expanded its partnerships by acquiring new companies and renewing licences with luxury brands such as Michael Kors and Dolce & Gabbana.

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