Lotito threats: 22 people sent to trial in Rome, hearing set for 8 February

Prosecutors send 22 people to trial

Prosecutors in Rome have ordered 22 people to stand trial over a campaign of threats, harassment and online abuse against Claudio Lotito, senator and president of Lazio. The decision follows the close of the preliminary investigations, and the direct summons names Lotito as the injured party. The pre-trial hearing is set for 8 February 2027 before the court in Rome. The decree was signed by the prosecutor Lucia Lotti. The charges are threats, incitement, aggravated defamation, harassment and unlawful processing of personal data. Seventeen of the defendants face the harassment charge under article 660 of the Criminal Code.

Calls, threats and a shared number

Most reports place the harassing calls in 2023 and 2024, although one version extends them to 2025. Investigators reconstructed at least 715 phone calls, many made at night, which the charge sheet describes as made without valid reason and aimed at causing distress. Some calls warned Lotito of serious consequences unless he left the management of Lazio. One call is alleged to have been made from a defendant's mother's phone, threatening to kidnap and kill Lotito's son. An email sent in August 2023 told him that sooner or later the club would be rid of him. A defendant is also accused of sharing Lotito's private number in a Telegram chat and urging members to disturb him. Some social media posts called for someone to stop him, and one author wrote that a deranged person could go after a candidate, as had happened in the United States.

Who is charged

The case grew out of a broader inquiry into pressure on Lotito to sell the club. Among the 22 is Massimo Pulcinelli, a businessman in the Bricofer group and former owner of Ascoli Calcio, who is accused of spreading Lotito's phone number to get others to call him. Investigators say he also used his Facebook page to defame Lotito and incite crimes. In an online newspaper he directs, he is alleged to have published an article attacking Lotito in similar terms. The main strand of the inquiry lists other suspects, among them a journalist for Il Tempo. The charges cover both the calls and the defamatory posts, and the court will decide responsibility for each defendant.

Lotito's account

In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Lotito said he had filed complaints against unknown persons and had not named anyone to investigators. He said the names emerged from the investigation itself and that anyone who believed they had been wronged could take legal action. He described the harassment as continuous over three years, and said his police escort had listened to many of the calls. He spoke of calls on holidays as well as on ordinary days.

“It was constant, day and night, even at Christmas, New Year's and the Epiphany.”

What comes next

The earliest dated item in the reporting is the August 2023 email, while the trial order was reported on 13 November 2026. The pre-trial hearing on 8 February 2027 is the first procedural step before any trial. Lotito remains the injured party in the case. The court will determine the responsibilities of the 22 people named in the order, and no verdict has been reported.