Olivia Paladino, mortgages and accounting tricks: shadows over lady Conte | Libero Quotidiano.it

The sale of the Grand Hotel Plaza, following the scoop by Libero on Paolo Zampolli’s involvement in the negotiations, a friend and emissary of Donald Trump, has sparked political debate. Giuseppe Conte, an improvised real estate agent, reportedly discussed the hotel with the Italian-American entrepreneur at the end of March, as revealed by our newspaper, but the deal has not yet been finalized. Meanwhile, we discovered that the hotel has been subject to five separate mortgage registrations promoted by the Revenue Agency-collection between September 2022 and October 2025. The formalities of 2025 alone refer to credits totaling 7.8 million and mortgages for 15.7. The total credits reported in the titles at the time of their respective registrations amount to 16.8 million, but this figure cannot automatically be considered as debt still fully owed. Payments, installments, reliefs, suspensions, or cancellations that occurred afterward cannot be verified through the copies we examined alone.

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ZAMPOLLI SPEAKS
Certainly, Zampolli was unaware of these registrations and tells Libero: “The purchase must be, as we say in the USA, ‘clean title.’ Neither I nor my client are willing to take on these additional costs. My offer remains 299 million. In recent hours, I asked a friend interested in the deal if he is willing to increase the offer. But certainly, the request for 325 million is, in my opinion, excessive. Also because to fix the Plaza, another 100 million would be needed. You can’t pay these amounts for a 5-star hotel, more than 2 million per room, also considering the forced closure for renovation of at least two years.”

Aside from the Plaza, the Paladino family companies are a well of surprises. Now, for the second time in a few months, the holding company has decided on a merger by incorporation. And as a container company for four other LLCs (the magnificent quintet accumulated about 10 million in losses in 2025), Agricola Monastero Santo Stefano Vecchio, the group’s parent company, placed in liquidation in February, was chosen. And this is already strange. Among the companies to be merged is Immobiliare di Roma Splendido, which owns the Plaza hotel and the properties where Conte and his partner Olivia live and work. Here, the rent is paid, as we wrote yesterday, by Unione esercizi alberghieri di lusso LLC, which over the years has accumulated 30 million in tax debts. Agricola should also include Agricola Andromeda and two other companies, which we will discuss more extensively shortly: Archimede immobiliare and Colle Rao, involved in a curious accounting restyling operation.

The last official financial statement of the “incorporating” Agricola dates back to 2024 and was approved only in February 2026, well beyond the legal and statutory deadlines without any explanation given either in the explanatory notes or at the shareholders’ meeting. The financial statement shows a loss of 591,000 euros, which together with previous years’ losses brings the total to over 14.7 million, offset by asset revaluations whose timing is unclear and which would be “consequent to the application” of “special laws” not reported in the documents.

The 2024 financial statement also emphasizes “the need for the liquidation” of Agricola, which, however, only took place on February 12, 2026. This company also has some pending issues with the tax authorities. For example, tax debts of almost 1.7 million are highlighted, of which 1.5 million were due in 2025. It is currently unknown whether they have been paid.

SHARES FOR TWELVE MILLION
But let’s come to the operation set up in 2024 by Colle Rao and Archimede immobiliare, both controlled by the parent company Agricola. The sole auditor of Archimede, Giovanni Monaco, already announced at the approval of the 2023 financial statement the merger of the same with Agricola and Immobiliare Splendido (which would have been the “incorporating” company), with retroactive effect. The document stated in black and white that the company was in very critical conditions and that only this incorporation could save it.

But something must have gone wrong, and the merger did not take place. So, between the end of November and the beginning of December 2024, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, the sole director of Archimede immobiliare (Cesare Paladino, Conte’s “father-in-law”) finds a buyer for 12% of the Splendido shares held by Archimede, valued at 12 million euros. It would be reasonable to assume that acquiring such a significant stake would require a structured and well-capitalized company.

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Instead, no, the purchase is made by Colle Rao, which has a share capital of 10,400 euros and net assets as of December 31, 2023, of 887,836 euros, the result of a 1.5 million revaluation of fixed assets (otherwise net assets would have been negative by over 600 thousand euros). In short, not exactly a structured and well-capitalized company.

LUCKY CAPITAL GAIN
What happens in the financial statements of the two companies? Inside Archimede, 12% of the Splendido shares were worth just under 1.8 million, so with the sale at 12 million, the company on the brink of bankruptcy was able to realize a capital gain of over 10 million and a profit of 7.6. Archimede was thus saved. So much so that the auditor, at the approval of the 2024 financial statement, wrote: “The composition of the company’s net assets as of December 31, 2024 […] allows, even in the absence of the above-mentioned merger project, to guarantee sufficient equity means for business continuity.” All good?

In reality, the share transfer contracts contain a “small” anomaly. Colle Rao acquires the 12 million participation entirely on credit and does not pay a single euro, committing to pay starting from January 2027. So Archimede realizes a profit of 7 million (thanks to the 10 million capital gain) and increases its net assets, and Colle Rao buys a substantial stake without spending a euro. Not even magician Harry Houdini at the peak of his career could have performed such an effective magic trick. The reality is that Archimede’s equity strengthening is not accompanied by a corresponding financial inflow. However, the company, despite lacking new liquidity, exploits the possibility, provided by tax regulations, to pay the tax on the capital gain in installments and therefore pays “only” 468 thousand euros related to 2024 and, reasonably, the same amount for 2025. Another 1.5 million would remain to be paid in three installments between 2026, 2027, and 2028. But here comes another surprise.

OPERATION CANCELLED
At the end of July this year, the five-party merger project we mentioned earlier was filed. But, just before, the directors of Colle Rao and Archimede had a change of heart and decided to dissolve the share transfer deed, so the shares returned to Archimede (it is unknown at what value) and left Colle Rao’s accounts. Evidently, the operation was no longer considered advantageous, although it had already partially borne fruit: Colle Rao did not have to pay a single installment to acquire the shares, and Archimede was able to present a couple of financial statements with substantial equity.

The dissolution “by mutual consent of share transfer deeds of limited liability companies,” decided when debts and credits would have ended up in the same pot, cannot but give the impression (perhaps mistaken) that the operation was just an effective example of accounting makeup. What will happen in the companies’ accounts following the merger remains a mystery that may be revealed during 2027. One thing, however, is reasonably certain: if the incorporation has retroactive effect, reasonably from January 1, 2026, the losses of the companies absorbed by Agricola could allow reducing or eliminating the actual payment of taxes still linked to the 10 million capital gain. With all due respect to the Revenue Agency.

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