Milan prosecutors seek trial for ex-wife accused of abusing finance manager for 20 months

Prosecutors ask for trial

Milan prosecutors have asked for the former wife of a 51-year-old finance manager to stand trial. Prosecutor Barbara Benzi charges her with maltreatment, personal injury aggravated by cruelty and abuse, and undue influence over a vulnerable person (circonvenzione d'incapace). The woman was also the manager's business partner and is the only defendant named in the file. Benzi dropped a torture charge that had been considered at first, because prosecutors said the legal grounds for it were absent. Preliminary hearing judge Fabrizio Filice will decide whether the case goes to trial at a hearing set for 24 March 2027.

What the manager alleges

His complaint describes months of physical and psychological abuse beginning in February 2023, after a furious row in a central Milan apartment building where the couple lived. According to the complaint, she accused him of visiting prostitutes and of an obsession with pornography, and claimed he had infected her with hepatitis B. The investigation later found that the hepatitis claim was false, and the manager was reportedly unaware of this at the time. He says she then took his phone, internet access, identity documents and cash, and kept him inside the flat or on the family boat. Reports describe him being beaten with a phone until he bled, and say she forced him to eat from the dog's bowl. He told doctors that his wife was responsible for his condition.

Saint-Tropez and Legnano

On 9 October 2024, in the Saint-Tropez area on the French Riviera, the manager was seen fleeing and hiding in the alleys around the harbour before reaching a hotel. There he lost consciousness and was taken to hospital. He weighed 53 kilograms and, according to one account, had no money or documents. Two days later, on 11 October, he went to the emergency room at Legnano hospital near Milan. Doctors diagnosed 'organic wasting' and recorded 'precarious hygienic conditions', along with cigarette burns on his head, arms and other parts of his body.

Video evidence and a counter-complaint

The couple's boat was equipped with surveillance cameras, and the case file contains 30,000 videos that are reported to document the abuse. The woman had filed a counter-complaint against her former husband. In June, a Milan judge for preliminary investigations (gip) archived it, calling it a blatant and late manoeuvre designed to steer the inquiry after the husband's flight. The amount involved is also disputed: most reports put the transfer to her account at 200,000 euros, while one report gives 20,000 euros.

Next steps

The manager's lawyers want the torture charge included and are seeking compensation of more than one million euros. Their account says he lived for 20 months in constant terror. He has since returned to live with his parents and is described by his lawyers as psychologically devastated. Judge Filice will now decide whether the evidence supports a full trial, with the hearing set for 24 March 2027 as the next formal step.