(NY Post) - A new lawsuit accuses a New York banker – who is the heir of a wealthy Italian family – of stealing $4.1 million from his sister and brother’s inheritance.
Giorgio Tupini, 36, who works in finance in New York, was temporarily entrusted with $7.6 million his dad Sergio Tupini, 71, left him to share with his two siblings Priscilla, 34, and Federico, 20, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from last week.
Sergio, a lawyer from Rome, Italy, had gotten the money from his late mother, Maria Teresa de Martino, the daughter of a wealthy tobacco industrialist who was worth at least $23 million when she died at 90 in May 2021, according to the suit and Sergio’s attorney.
But Giorgio, who allegedly had the funds transferred from a Switzerland account into a New York Chase bank account that he controlled in July and August of 2020, then vanished, the filing claims.
“Giorgio, Priscilla, Federico, and Sergio agreed to use the Chase Bank account as a temporary depository of the children’s inheritance because the account was available to receive the funds at that moment,” the suit says. “And because it was assumed (incorrectly) that Giorgio, a financial-services professional, was the person best-qualified to administer the account and to later make the necessary fund transfers to his family members.”
Giorgio only allegedly transferred $1 million to his siblings on February 1, 2022 — despite the fact that Federico and Priscilla were owed just over $5 million combined, the filing claims.
Sergio tried calling and emailing his son on “numerous occasions” ever since but Giorgio hasn’t responded and hasn’t sent anymore of the remaining $4.1 million to his siblings, the court documents claim.
Giorgio has since apparently moved out of his Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment and no one in the family knows where he is currently living, the suit claims.
A New York judge on Tuesday granted Sergio’s request to freeze the Chase bank account, though the family doesn’t know how much of their money remains in it, according to Sergio’s lawyer Jay Freiberg.
“They wanted to get the money into the name of the three kids,” Freiberg told The Post. “Giorgio was in finance, the oldest boy, he said ‘send it to me in the United States. I’ll take care of it.’”
“When it comes time to send it back to Federico and to Priscilla, Giorgio only gave back $1 million,” Freiberg claimed. “He called it the first tranche and he’s gone MIA since.”
“I think it is driven by greed and perhaps a dispute with his father,” Freiberg said of Giorgio’s actions. “He is clearly stealing from his family and it’s pretty serious stuff.”
“It’s unfortunate what Giorgio is doing to his siblings and we look forward to the court continuing to rectify that wrong,” Freiberg said.
A working phone number could not be found for Giorgio. The Post also attempted to reach him for comment via email and on Instagram.
By Priscilla DeGregory
May 30, 2022
