An heir to the Fiat fortune was arrested over the weekend after allegedly faking his own kidnapping, according to the New York Times. Lapo Elkann, the grandson of Fiat's Gianni Agnelli, was arrested Sunday morning when police were called to a public housing complex in New York. Elkann, who was with a 29-year-old man, told police he had been unlawfully prisoned.
Elkann flew to Manhattan on Thursday, and holed himself up in the housing project where he and the other man allegedly consumed alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine until their cash ran out two days later, a source told the Daily Beast.
That's when Elkann, allegedly on his own, concocted the kidnapping plot: he apparently warned his relatives that a woman was holding him against his will and that he "would be hurt" unless his family paid a $10,000 ransom, according to the source. Elkann's family informed the NYPD about the ransom, according to the source, and that is when investigators from the 13th Precinct helped lure both Elkann and his alleged male escort pal to a location to pick up the cash.
Elkann was given a desk-appearance ticket and released, and has a court date scheduled for January, according to the Times. After his grandfather died in 2003, Elkann became the public face of Fiat, and a controversial one known for bragging about his fabulous life of private planes and luxury cars. In 2005 he landed in a coma for three days after a drug overdose in the apartment of a prostitute. In 2015, three Italian paparazzi were accused of blackmailing Elkann with a compromising video.
Shares for Italia Independent, an eyewear company which Elkann founded in 2007, dropped 8.6 percent after news broke Tuesday morning.
Here is a photo of him standing with his Ferrari:
And here he is with Method Actor Jared Leto:
