Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to a website abusing the image of the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti.

The regulator has ordered the blackout of the website https://giogetti-invest.com, which “cloned” the image of Mr Giorgetti. Through fake interviews apparently given to primary television programs, the “clone” of the Minister advertised investment services provided through abusive trading platforms.

Consob’s intervention – to protect savers and the Minister himself, who was completely unconnected to the affair – was carried out by exercising the powers deriving from the “Growth Decree” (converted by Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019) and the “Capital Law” (Law no. 21 of 5 March 2024).

In recent months, Consob has made similar interventions on sites that abusively referred to the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

At the same time, Consob has also blocked six other abusive financial intermediation sites. These are:

• “Paragonix Trader AI” – “Telarax” – Giorgetti-Invest.com” (websites https://paragonix-trader-ai.com, https://telarax.com and page https://webtrader.orestpa.tech and advertising site https://giorgetti-invest.com).
• “Goldbysell” (website https://gold-bysell.com and related pages https://clientzone.gold-bysell.com and https://webtrader.gold-bysell.com);
• “Smart Solutions Bot” (website https://smartsolutionsbot.com and related page https://my.smartsolutionsbot.com);
• “Afex Markets” (website www.afexmarkets-it.com and related pages https://clientarea.alpha247-it.com and https://webtrader.alpha247-it.com);
• “Finco Trades” (website https://fincotrades.org and related page https://web.fin-trades.org).

The number of websites blocked by Consob since July 2019, when the Authority was given the power to order the blocking of the websites of abusive financial intermediaries, has thus risen to 1,311.

The activities of blocking the sites by the internet connectivity providers operating in Italy are underway. For technical reasons, the actual blocking may take a few days.