Eversheds' Italy chief faces jail over Cirio directorship

Prosecutors in Rome last week recommended that Bianchini Riccardi should serve the sentence alongside a number of other Cirio executives, including his client Sergio Cragnotti.

The company went bankrupt in 2003, owing savers over €1.2bn in outstanding bonds.

As well as advising Cragnotti on a number of acquisitions, including the listing of football club Lazio in 1998, Bianchini Riccardi sat on several Cirio boards.

A spokesperson for Eversheds said in a statement: “It’s inappropriate to comment on an on-going trial, especially when it is likely to be a number of years before a final conclusion is reached.”

In December 2010 Bonelli Erede Pappalardo founding partner Sergio Erede, who was an executive on the dairy company Parmalat’s board, was given a 20-month suspended sentence in relation to the company’s bankruptcy (10 December 2010).